Posted on 12/04/2019 4:04:31 AM PST by Kaslin
As we head into the Christmas season, religious liberty in America continues to be under attack, and it’s not just about whether people can say “Merry Christmas” in public places. With the recent controversy over Chick-fil-A bowing to pressure to end its financial support of charities the far left has labeled as “anti-gay,” organizations that dare to hold onto certain deeply held religious beliefs will likely be punished for it.
I have served on the national boards of the two charities that Chick-fil-A will no longer be supporting, the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Both charities have been smeared by the left as being anti-gay because of their traditional religious view of marriage as between one man and one woman. As a former board member of both organizations, I never witnessed – nor would I have tolerated – any type of prejudice or bigotry toward gay people. All I ever saw was people earnestly wanting to help other people.
In fact, the Salvation Army estimates that it is the largest provider of poverty relief to the LGBT community in the nation. The money it was getting from Chick-fil-A went to its Angel Tree program to provide Christmas gifts for needy children. FCA was using its donation to send poor youth to summer sports camps at historically black colleges and universities.
Contrary to the accusations from the left, Christians do not hate gay people; our faith teaches us to love everyone. This issue is not with gay people; it’s with a small group of anti-religious activists who refuse to tolerate other people’s beliefs and seek to destroy anyone who doesn’t agree with their agenda.
The Chick-fil-A incident is just the latest example of why so many of us fight for religious liberty every single day and why it’s critical for all religious people to be engaged in the public square. The ability to work, live, and provide services compatible with one’s beliefs is essential for maintaining a free society.
When tolerance for religious beliefs wanes, intolerance for other beliefs follows closely behind. Just as it has become acceptable to discriminate against people for their religious beliefs, we’ve seen how it has also become acceptable to discriminate against – and even attack – people based on their political beliefs, their beliefs on how they raise their children, or any other belief that doesn’t comport with the latest checkbox on the social justice warrior agenda.
A pluralistic society like ours is defined by those with different beliefs and different cultures coexisting side-by-side while still sharing one unifying American identity. A society without that kind of tolerance becomes a society of us-versus-them that devolves into constant conflicts and chaos. Unfortunately, that seems to be the very path the far left wants to force us down.
In caving to the bullying of a minority of radical activists, Chick-fil-A has only affirmed that their destructive tactics work, and it guarantees that those tactics will be used again against others. If a giant like Chick-fil-A can succumb to anti-religious pressure, then it can happen anywhere. And the activists now know it.
While private companies certainly have the freedom to donate to whatever organizations they choose, Chick-fil-A, by singling out the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, is telling their once former charitable allies, “If you insist on sticking to your deeply held religious beliefs, you’re on your own.” That feels like a betrayal, not only to those charities, but to the millions of customers who have come to Chick-fil-A’s defense over the years for its right to hold fast to its own beliefs.
In trying to appease bullies who will never be satisfied with compromise, Chick-fil-A has achieved little. Instead, it has emboldened the intolerant, thrown outstanding charities under the bus, and harmed thousands of innocent children and youth that benefited significantly from the help of those charities.
Millions of people of faith in this country have loved Chick-fil-A not only for its good food and friendly staff, but because it stood strong for principles in a world that seemed more and more to have little use for them. Many of those same people are now praying that the company’s leadership reconsiders what it has done. Today, I join them in their prayers.
:Judas Iscariot made a great business decision, too.”
Good point.
I don't believe that's the case at all. I believe they made a conscious decision that climbing on the LGBT train was a sound business decision that would enable the company to expand into new regions and attract a wider customer base. This had nothing to do with political pressure at all. Even the LGBT boycott made Chick-fil-A more popular than ever before.
I give it no more than two years before Chick-fil-A starts opening on Sundays.
They're no different than any other food chain anymore.
The original owner was a devout Christian, and made his business decisions and modeled his business according to his beliefs. He passed the business on to his son. The son made business decisions based on bottom line alone. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem lies with how he kept the appearance of his fathers business model, but actually ran the company contrary to his fathers model, while the faifhful patrons were unaware. The father served God first and God blessed him with a properous business. The son served money and is a hypocrite.
Let me guess, Jeb voter, eh?
This makes no sense.
Buy yer sandwich at them other places and donate DIRECTLY to SA!
Then had terminal Buyer’s Regret
Cancelling the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes is the project-of-the-month for the anti-religious radical activists.
Chick-fil-A just gave them a huge assist.
That tears it for me. Chick-fil-A has gone over to the other side. There is no coming back for them, and no future Chick-fil-A sandwiches for me.
Our relationship is ended.
Treutt Cathy died in 2014 and his son Dan had probably been running the corporate end of CFA for a long time due to his Father’s age.
Rodney Bullard joined CFA in 2011. My guess is that CFA goal was to go public with a stock offerings. To do that their foundation had to go PC WOKE regarding their donations. Hence they dropped Salvation Army etc..
The SPLC donations started in 2017. Sounds like this was CFA overall plan for along time under the guise “Christian”, being used as a marketing tool.
Of course you can save your keystrokes because there aren’t any. No business can be successful without at sometime, many times, supporting liberal entities or office holders.
Our own President has given money and supported liberals many many times for the same reason.
Have any of you taken the time to see what conservative orgs and entities CFA supports and by what amounts? If they go away then so does any support for causes with witch you do agree.
CFA has used the words “Christian Values” in their marketing. This attracted a large portion of their customer base.
When that base found out that CFA couldn’t support The Salvation Army, but they could support the SPLC that’s a values problem to that former support base.
What many former patrons have suggested to CFA is drop the word “Christian”, open on Sunday’s & be who you really are.
For many of us, the principled stand CFA was the sole reason we conducted business with them -- in an industry where every transaction is pretty much a totally discretionary one.
A person or company who violates something that might be considered a "sacred trust" of sorts will always be treated worse by people of faith than someone who never had that sacred trust in the first place.
And even if this is not the case, then if Chick-fil-A wants to be treated no differently than McDonald's or White Castle, then that's exactly how many of us will treat them ... which means we don't conduct business with them anymore simply on that basis alone.
I give it two years before Chick-fil-A is open on Sundays.
I give it less time than that before we start seeing video clips posted on YouTube of baboons brawling inside Chick-fil-A stores.
Only your friends can knife you in the back.
“This recent decision on what charities to support was a BUSINESS decision.”
So what? As is mine not to patronize them anymore. They turned on us. Only a moron would help them stay afloat now. They aren’t conservative, they aren’t Christian now.
bump
It’s no wonder we are losing our country to leftists. We play right into their hands and they know it. So just keep it up nitwits. Hurt Chick-fil-A if you can. Drive them out of business. Then buy some Nike shoes and head over to starbucks with your money and spend it there.
Do you have a personal association with CFA? I ask because you are quite defensive of them.
There is nothing special about their chicken. CFA grew to its large size because it had a unique brand. It’s perceived Christian beliefs set it apart from the pack of fast food joints. CFA was not a nationally known business before the controversy. It was a regional business. Obviously, CFA benefited greatly from the PR associated with the boycott. So it should be no surprise they face a backlash for now surrendering to the homosexual lobby.
No affiliation whatsoever. Chic fi a has been in business for more than a half a century. They have grown at a steady pace for more than a decade. The controversy you speak of had no measurable effect on their business which can easily be verified through annual sales numbers. CFA’s annual sales were in the billions long before any political controversy. You seem to think their success was due to politics and that is simply not even close to true. CFA is successful because they have a great product and they are an exceptionally well run business.
I also heard that Chick-fil-A has donated to Planned Parenthood and is working with them. I hope it’s not true.
I don't think it is. But they give to women's groups like the YWCA that cooperate with Planned Parenthood. They also give to liberal and LGBTQ groups and stopped giving to groups that didn't support the gay agenda.
“This had nothing to do with political pressure at all.”
true.
It had everythign to do with spiritual choice and they chose money and more business than to stand firm in their support of things of God, meaning charities boldly doing work due to their strong faith in of God.
CFA = weak faith and support of God. maybe previous owner was strong faith but now the people in decision making are more about money.
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