Chick-fil-A support for traditional marriage
August 1 declared Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day to show support for traditional marriage
Pegasus News ^ | July 29, 2012 | J.J. Smith
Posted on July 30, 2012 2:31:52 PM PDT by NYer
After the Mayors of Boston and Chicago and elected officials in other cities vowed to block efforts to open Chick-fil-A restaurants in their cities because the company’s president told reporters that he supported the traditional definition of marriage, thousands of Christians are mobilizing efforts nationwide to support Chick-fil-A – led by Fox News Channel host and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee has declared August 1 “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.”
“Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, August 1,” said the former Republican Presidential candidate.
Huckabee said the company has come under attack from militant homosexuals and is being “smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left.”
“The militant homosexual advocates have launched an all out assault on Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A,” he said. “The attempts to hurt or destroy Chick-fil-A are nothing short of economic bullying.”
What do the Rockwall Chick-fil-A franchise owners Tim and Melissa Moseley think about the controversy and how Appreciation Day will affect their location at 2835 Ridge Road in conservative, traditional, family-oriented Rockwall? Unfortunately they are currently on vacation and couldn't be reached for comment.
But Chick-fil-A did issue a corporate statement regarding the protests from Donald Perry, vice president Corporate Public Relations:
Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.
The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.
Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.
Rockwall City Council member and Lake Pointe Church member Michelle Smith supports the effort and publicly questioned whether such attacks by the gay lobby are right on her Facebook page July 25. She referred to an editorial on TheAtlantic.com entitled “In Defense of Eating at Chick-fil-A”: “This is about the right of a private business to operate as it wishes," she said. "Do we really want a country where people won’t do commerce with those who have beliefs different than their own?”
“This country was founded on freedom of religion, not freedom from religion,” she added. “I strongly support the first amendment right to free speech.”
Chick-fil-A is privately owned by the Cathy family. The company president, Dan Cathy, angered gay rights advocates and supporters when he made recent statements that some have alleged are anti-gay.
Cathy told Baptist Press that the company was unapologetically in favor of traditional marriage.
“Guilty as charged,” he said. “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
In a separate interview on the Ken Coleman Show, Cathy suggested that the nation could face God’s wrath over the redefinition of marriage.
“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,’” hesaid. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we would have the audacity to try to redefine what marriage is all about.”
Boston Mayor Tom Menino was the first to state that the Atlanta-based company would not be welcome in his city.
“You can’t have a business in the City of Boston that discriminates against a population,” he told the Boston Globe. “We’re an open city. We’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel also condemned the fast-food chain, vowing his support for Alderman Proco Moreno’s announcement that he would block construction of a Chick-fil-A restaurant in his district.
“Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. “They disrespect our fellow neighbors and residents.”
“If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the First Ward,” he told the newspaper.
Mountain View California, a bedroom community of San Francisco, has temporarily blocked the chicken chain from opening there after a homosexual couple spearheaded an effort to launch a zoning challenge.
Threats to ban Chick-fil-A have drawn fire from editorial pages across the nation.
The Los Angeles Times condemned the decision, calling it far more troubling than Chick-fil-A’s support of traditional marriage.
“Public officials have a responsibility to carry out their ministerial tasks fairly and evenhandedly – and to uphold the principle of free speech – whether or not they like a business executive’s social or political stances,” the Times opined.
The Boston Globe wondered “which part of the First Amendment does Menino not understand? A business owner’s political or religious beliefs should not be a test for the worthiness of his or her application for a business license.”
Donald Wildmon, the founder of the American Family Association, is backing Huckabee’s efforts saying he hoped it would generate the largest one-day sales in the company’s history.
“I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick-fil-A company,” Wildmon wrote in an email. “It’s a great American story that is being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left.”
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, was especially disturbed by the actions of Boston’s mayor.
“This is really outrageous when you see this is the train that follows same sex marriage,” Perkins told Fox News. “This idea of the loss of religious freedom – the freedom of speech — and it’s on perfect display in Boston with the intolerance of this mayor.”
Perkins noted that Americans have overwhelmingly endorsed the traditional definition of marriage – 32 times in 32 states.
“Chick-fil-A is in the mainstream,” he said. “The mayor of Boston is in the minority.”
Beautiful. You said what was in my head.
Quoting aMarieT:
so....
let me ask a couple of silly questions here..
has Chick-fil-a ever refused service to anyone based on their perceived sexuality?
has Chick-fil-a ever refused employment to any one based on their perceived sexuality?
No? We don't know?
It amazes me that the so called tolerant progressives are only tolerant toward one set of beliefs. I am amazed that the so called open minded set are the first ones to start blathering on about hate and ignorance when confronted with a view that differs from theirs.
That, in and of itself, it hateful and ignorant. Not to mention close minded.
Way to be open minded and tolerant.
by the way, I support marriage equality, and I will still eat at Chick-fil-a
Quoting LadyByrdNest:My husband loves their waffle fries....I'm sure he'll eat enough for 3 people!
Quoting momof31995:
Everyone eating CFA tomorrow can eat a waffle fry for me since i can't drive 100 miles for CFA.
Quoting LadyByrdNest:I will!!! Though I've only been divorced once.
My first husband nearly beat me to death. Believe me when I say...I had God's permission to give that monster a certificate of divorce. :)
Quoting ChancesMommy07:
I wonder how many people who will be there "celebrating traditional marriage" have been divorced two or three time?
"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6).
When my first husband and I were married, we were not married in the church or in the eyes of God. God did not join us together. We joined ourselves together based on the carnal beliefs.
However, by the time we divorced, we were Christians....my ex had been unfaithful as well, which was grounds enough, but I had forgiven him for that. It was not until the beatings became too severe and too often that I knew I had God's permission.
Addendum: It's also common knowledge (well to some) that husbands are commanded to love their wives like Christs loves us. If a husband is cheating, and beating his wife, he does not love her. This is a form of abandonment, which is also grounds for divorce.
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Quoting sweet-a-kins:
Where in the Bible does it say that?
Quoting LadyByrdNest:I will!!! Though I've only been divorced once.
My first husband nearly beat me to death. Believe me when I say...I had God's permission to give that monster a certificate of divorce. :)
Quoting ChancesMommy07:
I wonder how many people who will be there "celebrating traditional marriage" have been divorced two or three time?
Ouch!! Good one! You got me there!
*walks away in shame and defeat*....not.
Quoting shannonnigans:
That alone would quantify your collective intelligence.
Quoting LadyByrdNest:My husband loves their waffle fries....I'm sure he'll eat enough for 3 people!
Quoting momof31995:
Everyone eating CFA tomorrow can eat a waffle fry for me since i can't drive 100 miles for CFA.
I don't think you should have stayed
But don't pretend you were an exception to the marriage laws
Quoting LadyByrdNest:"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:4-6).
When my first husband and I were married, we were not married in the church or in the eyes of God. God did not join us together. We joined ourselves together based on the carnal beliefs.
However, by the time we divorced, we were Christians....my ex had been unfaithful as well, which was grounds enough, but I had forgiven him for that. It was not until the beatings became too severe and too often that I knew I had God's permission.
Quoting sweet-a-kins:
Where in the Bible does it say that?
Quoting LadyByrdNest:I will!!! Though I've only been divorced once.
My first husband nearly beat me to death. Believe me when I say...I had God's permission to give that monster a certificate of divorce. :)
Quoting ChancesMommy07:
I wonder how many people who will be there "celebrating traditional marriage" have been divorced two or three time?
Quoting romalove:
Quoting aMarieT:
so....
let me ask a couple of silly questions here..
has Chick-fil-a ever refused service to anyone based on their perceived sexuality?
has Chick-fil-a ever refused employment to any one based on their perceived sexuality?
No? We don't know?
It amazes me that the so called tolerant progressives are only tolerant toward one set of beliefs. I am amazed that the so called open minded set are the first ones to start blathering on about hate and ignorance when confronted with a view that differs from theirs.
That, in and of itself, it hateful and ignorant. Not to mention close minded.
Way to be open minded and tolerant.
by the way, I support marriage equality, and I will still eat at Chick-fil-a
IF the CEO had expressed a personal opinion, then the restaurant itself would not be feeling this heat.
BUT the CEO is using profits from the business to support groups that promote "traditional marriage", meaning, exclusion of gay marriage. That means every time someone eats at a CFA restaurant they are helping fund those groups by proxy.
The CEO can have opinions, those against his opinions can have their opinions, the tolerance is that we allow all views expressed.
See, THIS is why I object to Chick Fil A. You make so much sense Roma.Thanks for your reply!
It seems everyone wants to ignore these issues and scream "They have a right to their opinion" etc. Of course they do. That is not why we object to them. They are afraid to admit that the CEO ( Mr Cathy) contributes to organizations ....not so nice organizations, that discriminate. ( I wonder if they have also discriminated against blacks in the past?)I wouldn't want a penny of my mnoney to be contributed to them. If I hadn't know about them I probably wouldn't have supported a boycott.
and what "generation" are you?
- LadyByrdNest
on Jul. 31, 2012 at 12:03 PM