Chick-fil-A, Christianity and Compromise
What are we to make of the Chick-fil-A decision on who it donates to?
Plenty of ink has already been spilled on the seeming capitulation of the Christian-owned chicken restaurant chain. While the company and some of its Christian supporters are trying to put a good spin on their decision to stop charitable giving to groups that are holding the line on homosexuality, it does not look too good.
It seems business considerations have trumped Christian principles. Devout Christian Dan Cathy had upset homosexuals and the left when he made it clear back in 2012 that homosexual marriage was not on: “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.’ And I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”
All hell broke loose following those remarks, with boycotts and major campaigns launched against CFA. Christians on the other hand strongly supported them, and their business continued to thrive. But now it seems all this is being undone. Again, there are some conflicting reports here, but it does not look good. Consider just a few things.
One interview with the President of CFA included this: “‘As Chick-fil-A expands globally and into more liberal parts of the U.S., the chicken chain plans to change which charities it donates to after years of bad press and protests from the LGBT community,’ Bisnow reported Monday.” https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-chick-fil-a-to-stop-donating-to-christian-charities-branded-anti-lgbt
And when homosexual groups welcome such changes, you know there is trouble: “GLAAD said people should ‘greet the announcement with cautious optimism,’ but argues that the restaurant’s shift does not go far enough to appease LGBT advocates, calling on Chick-fil-A to change its workplace policies to be more LGBT-friendly as well as publicly disavow its ‘anti-LGBTQ reputation’.” https://www.disrn.com/2019/11/19/glaad-says-chick-fil-a-donation-shift-not-enough-company-needs-to-unequivocally-speak-out-against-anti-lgbtq-reputation/
Moreover, who is now getting the charitable gifts? Sexuality expert Robert Gagnon quotes a friend on the social media:
And now we know who is replacing The Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the evangelical ministry Paul Anderson Youth Home on Chick-fil-A’s charity list: pro-gay Covenant House…. Covenant House is openly LGBTQ-affirming. Not just “tolerating.” AFFIRMING. It has gay board members and the entire organization–every chapter–went through a “True Colors” assessment to make sure every chapter would not only understand the plight of gay youth, but AFFIRM “their authentic self.” Covenant House proudly participated in the NYC Pride Parade. This is who Chick-fil-A is replacing The Salvation Army with. A ministry that openly affirms sinful behavior and rejects the biblical worldview on sexuality.
It does seem to boil down to a business decision. One pro-homosexual report puts it this way:
As the company tries to open up in new places like from the Bay Area to the UK (and draws negative attention in the process), its image undoubtedly needed a little rehabilitation to reassure people that, actually, it doesn’t hate the gays anymore. That said, Chick-fil-A is still headed up by ultra-devout Southern Baptist Dan Cathy, who pushed the anti-gay agenda, and there’s little evidence to suggest that he’s changed his views. Rather, he’s just learned to keep his mouth shut. So, even if Chick-fil-A isn’t supporting anti-gay charities anymore, customers who eat there are still supporting Cathy. https://www.eater.com/2019/11/18/20970565/chick-fil-a-charity-donations-covenant-house-junior-achievement
And we should know by now that trying to appease the militants never works. They are never satisfied, as I just wrote recently: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/11/13/the-activists-are-never-satisfied/
Many Christian leaders are quite concerned about this turn of events. Rod Dreher wrote:
So, let me get this straight: Chick-fil-A has managed to become the third-biggest fast-food chain in the US, despite earning so much progressive hatred for honoring what its leadership once claimed was fidelity to “a much higher calling.” But now, in 2019, as it sits near the summit of business success, Chick-fil-A suddenly finds that it can no longer afford to follow that “higher calling,” and is cutting the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes off.
I love Chick-fil-A, but it’s going to be a while before I go there again. This is nothing but gutless surrender. And it’s a lesson to all of us. The LGBT lobby, and their progressive allies, will never, ever leave you alone. Never. You watch: within five years, Chick-fil-A will be embracing woke advertising campaigns. Just this morning, I was looking across the breakfast table at my kids’ cereal box, saw this rainbow, and wondered why Honey Nut Cheerios had gone gay. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/chick-fil-a-surrenders-to-lgbt-bullies/
Matt Walsh said this:
This capitulation will not stop the bleeding, because there was no bleeding. Now that might change. This move is much more likely to alienate Chick-fil-A’s supporters than to appease its critics. Surrendering to political correctness almost never pays off, and Chick-fil-A isn’t likely to be an exception. Personally, I don’t care what charities a chicken restaurant does or does not support. That is their affair and their decision to make. I am not going to boycott. Their chicken sandwiches are still delicious, which is my primary concern when I’m in the drive-thru. But it is disappointing and somewhat bewildering to see them cave like this. Their refusal, until now, was important for reasons that have nothing to do with gay marriage or homosexuality. It was good to have at least one major company with the stones to defy the Rage Mob. Regardless of the reason for the defiance, or the issue at the center of the controversy, the defiance itself was the point. Their surrender, on the other hand, has no point.
This is what Chick-fil-A will now learn the hard way, as have so many before them: You cannot appease the mob. It doesn’t matter if you give them what they want. It doesn’t matter if you fall to your feet, confess your sins, and beg forgiveness. All your self-abdication will do is empower and encourage your critics. They will not forgive you (not that Chick-fil-A needed forgiveness). This is an age of scalp-claiming, not mercy. Now they will happily take yours, celebrate the victory, and move on to the next target. You aren’t their friend now, or their ally. You’re just a trophy on their shelf. Congratulations, Chick-fil-A. Oh well. Popeyes is better anyway. https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-chick-fil-a-just-caved-to-the-rage-mob-theyre-about-to-learn-the-hard-way-that-surrendering-never-pays-off
And ex-homosexual Joe Dallas has penned a great piece on this. He said in part:
The company wants to be clear about who they are. Fair enough. But then, exactly who have they been claiming to be? As noted by Kaylee McGhee of the Washington Examiner, the Chick-fil-A Mission Statement reads: “This company exists to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.”
If glorifying God is your mission, and you want to be clear about who you are, then withdrawing your support from others who glorify God, simply because they uphold the standards of the God both you and they glorify, seems inconsistent and (forgive me) a little chicken….
If the company hadn’t supported the organizations it’s now abandoned, there’d be no issue. But when you openly support someone, then announce your withdrawal of support citing, among other things, a wish not to be associated with an anti-gay position, then you’ve done some pretty
strong messaging.To the companies you’ve cut off, you’ve said, “You’re great, but your position on sex and family makes you dangerous to be seen with.”
To the Christians who’ve supported you largely because of your stand, you’ve said, “You’re great, but you’re expendable. We know you’ll be mad, but you won’t disrupt our business, you won’t demand that universities and airports ban us, and you won’t stage sit-ins at our locations. So it’s safer to offend you than to offend them, because your reaction will never be like theirs, and you’re more likely to forgive us than they’ll ever be.”
To the social/political juggernaut known as the LGBTQ movement, you’ve said, “Bullying works. If you target Christian groups, harassing them at every turn, they will eventually cave to your demands. It worked on us. Now go do it to the others, and it will work on them, too.” https://joedallas.com/2019/11/19/chic-fil-a-and-this-present-world/
I had wanted to write about how Western Christians proceed in ever-darker times, where one business, one service, one corporation and one industry after another succumbs to radical leftism, and often -anti-Christian policies and beliefs.
However, this piece is getting too long already, so I will make that an article on its own. But things are getting worse by the day. We certainly expect secular companies and businesses to push pro-homosexual and other activist agendas. But when Christian business seem to be caving in as well, that really is a genuine concern.
At the very least, keep Cathy and CFA in your prayers. And there is a petition you can sign on this as well: https://lifepetitions.com/petition/petition-tell-chick-fil-a-to-reverse-course-don-t-cave-into-anti-christian-lgbt-agenda
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Chick A Fill has put God on trial as so many have done. God’s test on mankind continues and it appears that we are getting very close to ’10 cannot be found to save the cities’ as was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah.
The tests will continue before the person who will become the hand of God enters the fray.
John Abbott
I found this to be terrifying. After reading about this yesterday I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was it the beginning of things to really start steam rolling. Has this guy completely lost his mind?!!
I supported this restaurant on Wednesday nights after church. I put up with the ridiculous long lines and crowded drive throughs for a mediocre chicken sandwich. I like Chick fil A but I LOVE Popeyes. Chick fil A was a thing we did to support the christian community. I believe strongly in supporting other Christians businesses but this chicken palace is now the end.
Look at the new breast binding transgender Sprite ad. Brave New World coming with the help of Big Business.
Give them an inch and they will demand a mile.
Chick fil A never said that they were going to now not donate to Christian charities that are seen as “anti LGBT”. They said they had had multi year contracts for donations to Salvation Army and the Christian Athletes charity and that these contracts had expired, so they are looking a different charities to donate to. They never said that they would never donate to Salvation Army again and they never said that they were only going to donate to LGBT friendly charities. That is fake news from the MSM. Now Christians are angry at them for something the media is saying and Christians have swallowed it and are running with it. Nothing in what the company said in anyway suggests that they are giving in to LGBT pressure.
Thanks Louise. But read my article – and read it carefully. While we as believers are all hoping this is not happening, we also need some hard-headed realism here – not wishful thinking. Yes I know what CFA is saying, and the spin they are putting on this, but the evidence is pointing to compromise and capitulation sadly. Recall that just a month ago CFA tried to open a store in the UK, but they were knocked back – because of their stance on homosexuality: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kem5e/the-uks-first-chick-fil-a-has-announced-its-closure-after-just-eight-days
At the end of the day CFA is a business, and like others, it wants to expand its market base and make a profit. They want to grow and open more new stores. So if getting business in the UK and elsewhere means easing up on its former position, well, that is a strong temptation indeed – one that it looks like it has succumbed to.
In addition to what I wrote above and the links included, have a read of this new piece as well. When both pro-family groups and pro-homosexual groups agree as to what is happening here, we better pay attention: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/amid-chick-fil-a-controversy-pro-family-and-lgbt-groups-find-rare-agreement-the-gays-have-won
I like the concluding paragraphs of the piece:
Woeful that people can delude themselves that ground can be made by conceding it.
Yes exactly right Peter. What is the line attributed to Churchill? “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
Sad & Mad about this compromise. They’ve sold out for 30 pieces of silver.
Excellent article and comments.
Thanks Louise.
They are preparing people for the mark of the beast 666.
“And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark…” ~ Revelation 13:16-18
“Little by little, after the credit card and the ID card, that is, after the personal “record” of each person, they will proceed insidiously to the seal. Through various cunning means, they will compel people to accept the seal on the forehead or on the arm. They will force the issue and say, “You can only use the card; currency will be abolished.” Whoever does not have a card will not be able to buy or sell.” ~ Saint Paisios
“Only the devil could think up such a cruel dictatorship. The mark [of the beast] equals denial. The identification cards also equal denial. When they put the sign of the devil, 666, of the identification cards, and I sign it, then I’m agreeing to it. It’s a denial [of Christ], make no mistake about it. You deny your Holy Baptism and you put on another seal – you deny Christ’s seal and take the devil’s. It’s one thing that there’s a 666 on the currency – ‘render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s’ – but it’s another matter to be on the identity card, because that’s something personal.” ~ Saint Paisios
Thanks Paul. I just wrote about that in a new article: Increasingly our options are being lessened as more and more companies and businesses push ungodly agendas: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/11/20/on-christians-chicken-and-living-in-caves/
Sadly…and I am aware of the irony behind this quote…”another one bites the dust”.
Thank you, I’ll have a read.
Appeasement has never worked. As soon as the attackers taste blood, they go in for the kill.
Perhaps they stop where they are now.
That may not be the way to bet but it’s the way to pray!
Thanks guys. As mentioned at the end of this article, I was going to do another piece on how Christians respond to the increasing war on faith. Here it is:
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/11/20/on-christians-chicken-and-living-in-caves/
“Like a trampled spring and a polluted well Is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked” (Proverbs 25:26)
Just think: Had the constitutional framers (like their early 1600 predecessors) established government and society on the Bible’s immutable and integral moral law (including Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13), there would be no out-in-the-open, in-your-face homosexual movement because no sodomite or lesbian would dare risk exposing themselves (pun intended) to petition government for their “rights,” to parade their wares in parades, to host library and school drag queen shows, or to picket Christian companies.
This is just one of tens of thousands of consequences of the whirlwind today’s America is reaping thanks to the wind sown by the constitutional framers:
“[B]ecause they have … trespassed against my law … they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind….” (Hosea 8:1, 7)
Today’s America is reaping the inevitable whirlwind resulting from the wind sown by the constitutional framers and fanned by today’s hoodwinked Christians and patriots who have been bamboozled into believing today’s whirlwind can be dissipated by appealing to the wind responsible for spawning the whirlwind – Proverbs 25:26!
For more, google online Chapter 3 “The Preamble: WE THE PEOPLE vs. YAHWEH” of “Bible Law vs, the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.:
Then, find out how much you really know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the right-hand sidebar and receive a complimentary copy of a book that examines the Constitution by the Bible.
I honestly don’t know what to believe that comes through the media. However, if this is true that they withdrew support, I never thought I’d see this happen with CFA.
Every time I’m there I’m just amazed at the long lines, at any time of the day. I’ve always thought how God has truly blessed this company. As we have seen before, backlash from LGBT community and it’s many supporters can ruin a business but it hasn’t appeared to affect CFA in regards to current business. I do realize they have been turned down in certain areas when it comes to expanding, but goodness they seem to be doing so well it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m curious to see what direction this will go for them now.
Congratulations LGBT you managed to take money from the Angel Tree program, which provided gifts for children during the holiday season, A group that provides underserved youth with week-long summer sports camps at historically black colleges and universities (HCBU), and a home for troubled youth. From the optics I would say you don’t like kids! (Unless your teaching them unGodly sex acts)
Takeaway is a lifestyle choice which seems to have been made by many big city dwellers ,who are fed and clothed and watered by others!
If we look at the ABC ,we see their take on such things as lives and lifestyles!
I was interested yesterday to hear one report on a bushfire in Yorketown ,where the Mallee farmers had the old traditional fire management strategies in place. As I’ve seen no other stories ,I assume that the strategies are working. Eastern seaboard big cities seem to have lost touch with their pioneering roots, trading off in many areas of life for expensive transport ,fast food , long showers,air conditioning and other resource greedy ways of life!
Not surprised when businesses give in to evil folks. Many denominations and church people have already done the same.
There is a very useful article about the subject by Daniel Greenfield at https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2019/11/chick-fil-put-obama-and-hillary-supporter-charge-daniel-greenfield/
Essentially, he points out that we have all been deceived by CFA from the start.
Thanks Malcolm.
We will no longer spend our hard earned money at CFA to be funneled to such organizations……sad