Monday, July 30, 2012

The Intolerance Police, Chick-Fil-A and the Big War



The Cathy family, founders and owners of Chick-Fil-A, have always been strong supporters and promoters of biblical manhood. Truett Cathy who has some 130 foster grandchildren wrote a great book in 2004, It's Better toBuild Boys Than Mend Men, that challenges and equips men to reach out to youth.
 
Recently Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-a, in an interview with Baptist Press, pleaded “guilty as charged” when asked if he supported traditional marriage. He went on to say, “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 … our restaurants are typically led by families. … We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families.”

While he said he believes there is no such thing as a “Christian business,” he did say organizations such as his can operate on biblical principles “asking God and pleading with God to give us wisdom on decisions we make about people and the programs and partnerships we have.”

Cathy’s admission set off a media firestorm that headlined his remarks as “anti-gay”. Bloggers labeled Chick-fil-a a “hate group”. The mayors of Boston, San Francisco and Chicago said they would block the company from opening any new stores, Boston’s chief politician declared “Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston”; Chicago’s mayor asserted “Chick-fil-a values are not Chicago values.”; San Francisco chief pol tweeted Chick-fil-a “doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone.

Jim Henson of Muppet fame pulled out of a partnership with the company and liberal groups organized boycotts, including homosexual “kiss-ins” at Chick-fil-a restaurants, Facebook temporarily censored a grassroots campaign to applaud and support the family-run business.- all this despite the fact there’s never been a hint of discrimination of any kind in Chick-fil-a's history.

Dr. James Emery White recently observed that not many years ago a business that supported of homosexual practice would have gone out of business. White says that today, “the threat to your business is support of the traditional family”. 

In many ways the moral battle lines are starker than ever before. Full-out war against historic Christianity seems more ominous. There’s a certain trajectory at work here which seems to mirror the disintegration described in Romans 1. 

First, Christianity has been increasingly marginalized by the culture; it is also being ostracized from the public square and marketplace; it is becoming demonized and penalized. The next step would be its being criminalized. Much more could be said about this trend and what is at stake now and in eternity. Suffice it to close with this truth and great assurance for every man of God.

“He told his disciples this:  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33


© 2012, Dave Brown is a pastor and the director of the Washington Area Coalition of Men’s Ministries and has been the men’s pastor at McLean Bible Church in McLean, Va. He served for 30 years in the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES), including eight years as an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. He did his seminary work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He’s been a leadership consultant, university administrator and member of the board of directors for the C.S. Lewis Institute.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment