Chick-fil-A fiasco

My kids love Chick-fil-A. They always have. At parties where a tray of those little chicken bites are laid out, invariably, they disappear more quickly than most any other available food. I do not go there much on my own. I am not sure much of the menu is helpful for doing anything with my middle aged chubby frame. However, such decisions have now taken on a new twist. Apparently, the decision to eat/not eat there makes one a soldier in the culture wars. It is not about food and nutrition, it is about gay marriage....

As most of you know, the founder of Chik-fil A was interviewed recently on the gay marriage issue. What he said was not shocking. He is a conservative Christian. He believes the Bible the way most conservative Christians do. He thinks marriage is one man and one woman. He also believes that America is under threat of judgment because it has openly rejected God's word on the issue. The response has been ridiculous. And eye opening. Clearly, many angry people think that Christians are not allowed to believe what our faith teaches. That has me very concerned.

Marriage, until the last decade, has always meant one man and one woman. There have been outliers advocating multiple partners, but those have usually tried to stay under the radar. Polygamy was known but rarely seen. Except, in growing numbers, for serial polygamy. Serial polygamy means that you have multiple spouses, you just spread them out one at a time. For people my age, the most famous practioners of serial polygamy have been movie stars. We seemed to focus on the ladies more, Elizabeth Taylor and Doris Day come to mind.They sometimes had five, six even seven husbands (or wives). I would have more respect for conservatives who warned us that God's punishment will fall on America because we have abandoned monogamy. But part of that is a function of how humans tend to operate. Many of our friends and family are divorced and remarried. Lots of us have divorced parents. Also, we know things. We know why some marriages fail and we have compassion. The OT provides for divorce (though Jesus says that Moses did this because we have hard hearts). Even the NT has Jesus (for sexual sin) and Paul (for unbelief) provide loop holes for the no remarriage message; so perhaps that has played a part. So it is a bit trickier to talk about (and we are not big on nuance when we talk in this culture!).

The decision to boycott Chick-fil-A was a fiasco. It created a counter response which led to long lines out the doors of this fast food mainstay. I think research indicates that conservative Christians really like fried chicken (at least it is implied by some articles I have read). One criticism is we are too fat. Well, now there is a moral imperative to eat more chicken--to do so is a support of traditional beliefs and free speech. From what I see and here, yesterday's sales were through the roof. Tons of people went to eat as a way to say, "we support traditional marriage." That is awesome, but sad. This intensifies the divisions and conflicts. It leads people to get angry and confrontative. And gay people and Christians suffer verbal abuse and are demonized based on the desire to eat some lunch.

In Chicago, my birthplace and one of my favorite cities, the mayor said that Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values. Seriously? A city known for political corruption? A city whose current murder rate is astronomical? A city of such diversity in culture and religion that literally anything and everything can be found somewhere? Chicago, all three million of  her, has no room for a guy to sell (delicious) chicken because he does not believe in same sex marriage? Chicago, a city with a huge Roman Catholic (i.e., traditional marriage) population is certainly a city where Chick-fil-A's values are present. Why do I care? Because if a city can ban someone from making a living because they believe in traditional marriage what has it come to? Will pro-life stance mean social exile? Will the belief in the Bible be criminalized?

I am a traditional marriage kind of guy working in a church which is off the charts pro-gay, pro-anything not traditional. I have sat with the "tolerance" folks and heard them spew their venom against anyone who does not match up with their "love and kindness and tolerance" perspective.... I also know that some conservatives hate gay people. I have made it clear, gay-hating is not welcome and will not be allowed in my parish. But, for some on the Left, anything short of advocating gay marriage (a misnomer by the way) is hate. And that is the problem. They leave no room for any opinion but their own.

I think God's judgment is coming. On my list of reasons gay stuff is pretty far down. I think materialism, consumerism, a lack of a spirit of true worship and disobedience is a function of self-centeredness. In my hearing, conservatives are no less likely to engage in this than Liberals. So Chick-fil-A owners will prosper in conservative areas and suffer losses (and apparently large numbers of homo-sexual kissing on their properties) in other areas. Lots of noise and too much evil (in the name of the cause). Lots of noise and too much self righteousness. Lots of noise and finger pointing. And that will draw God's wrath.