I've never eaten Chik-fil-A chicken, but apparently its a very nice "Christian" company that operates according to "biblical principles" and supports "healthy families," according to it's President and COO, Dan Cathy:
"We have no agenda against anyone[.] At the heart and soul of our company, we are a family business that serves and values all people regardless of their beliefs or opinions."
Yes, at their heart and soul they love everyone, value everyone and are willing to take the money of anyone willing to purchase their product. They will even serve LGBT people who walk into their restaurants without batting an eye. But, something tells me that Mr. Dan Cathy is flat out lying when he claims that Chik-fil-A has no agenda against anyone. And by anyone I mean Gays, Lesbians, bisexuals and transgender folks. Indeed, many gay organizations are so upset about Chik-fil-A that they have openly criticized Chik-fil-A's earlier this year for its record of support for anti-gay organization and its practices.
“If you have a faith-based corporate identity and you want to function in the national marketplace, you’re going to continue to encounter resistance to those values because not everybody is going to share them,” says Lambert. “The only other option is some sort of secular identity and that’s not where Chick-fil-A is going.”Lambert says Chick-fil-A is the most visible example of an American corporation trying to foster a specifically Christian identity. The company is privately held and family-run, making that task somewhat easier.
Lambert says Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy signed what Cathy describes as a “covenant” with his children when they took over the company, to help preserve its Christian DNA.
The current controversy erupted when some college campus and gay rights groups blasted the restaurant chain for donating free food to a Pennsylvania organization opposed to gay marriage.
The Human Rights Campaign, a major gay rights group, launched a letter writing campaign to the company, while the Indiana University South Bend went so far as to temporarily suspend Chick-fil-A service in its campus dining facilities.
In response, the American Family Association has organized a "Buycott" (no, that is not a misspelling) in which AFA is openly pleading with good Christians to buy fast food chicken, etc. from Chik-fil-A all this week. Here's the "reasons" from its webpage as to why AFA deems a "Buycott" is necessary to protect a good Christian company from a savage attack of Angry Angry Gays:
You probably didn't hear about this on the evening news or read about it in the newspaper, but after a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Pennsylvania donated some sandwiches and brownies to a marriage seminar hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, pro-homosexual activists went ballistic. According to syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin:
- Several left-wing activist blogs launched an all-out attack on Chick-fil-A.
- Some started calling the company's main product "Jesus Chicken."
- They mocked and belittled the company's "Not Open on Sunday" policy.
- They smeared company employees, calling them "anti-gay."
- One individual – Michael Jones – started an online petition campaign "demanding" that Chick-fil-A renounce "extreme anti-gay groups."
- Users of Facebook organized witch hunts on college campuses.
- In a feature article that ran in the New York Times' Sunday A-section, reporter Kim Severson attacked Chick-fil-A saying it is "anti-gay."
All that because one Chick-fil-A franchise donated a few sandwiches to a seminar aimed at helping couples strengthen their marriages. That reaction certainly seems like making a mountain out of a mole hill. You get the sense that there's more to this attack on Chick-fil-A than meets the eye. And you're right. There is. Chick-fil-A operates on Biblical principles and that irritates secularists.
Sounds horrible doesn't it. All those so-called harassment by evil secularists and promoters of the homosexual agenda just because Chik-fil-A is operated under "biblical principles" and homosexual loving secularists just love to hate them anyone who loves Jesus. Except that's not the whole story, not by a long shot (and what a surprise that AFA is using Michelle "I'm completely objective" Malkin as their source).
You see, I look at deeds not words to determine what are a person's, corporate or otherwise, true intentions. And the money that Chik-fil-A has contributed to groups, primarily Radical Right Christian organizations that oppose gay rights, including the right to marry speaks louder to me than any press release by Chik-fil-A's President that their company doesn't hate anyone.
Because, to be frank, the owners of Chik-fil-A clearly do not respect the rights of their fellow human beings who are members of the LGBT community. Indeed, one could say that their support for groups that make a point of opposing basic human rights for LGBT people and their families like Focus on the Family and the American Family Association amounts to an agenda of hatred toward gay individuals and gay families.
[Cik-fil-A] has strong, deep ties to anti-gay organizations like Focus on the Family and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and its charitable division has provided more than $1.1 million to organizations that deliver anti-LGBT messages and promote egregious practices like reparative therapy that seek to "free" people of being gay.The matter grabbed headlines in January after a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A restaurant sponsored a "traditional marriage" event by providing food to attendees of "The Art of Marriage: Getting to the Heart of God's Design." [...]
That's as they say, merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Let's consider their "charitable" contributions, shall we?
1. Winshape: Over $1.1M Given To Anti-Gay GroupsThe WinShape Foundation is Chick-fil-A's charitable arm [...]
TOTAL WINSHAPE DONATIONS: $1.1M ($1,142,450) to anti-gay groups from 2003-2008, the last year for which public records are available.
- National Christian Foundation: $631,600
- Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
- Serving Marriages, Inc.: $15,000
- Alliance Defense Fund: $5,000
- Christian Camp And Conference Association: $5,000
- Campus Crusade for Christ: $2,850
- Georgia Family Council: $2,000
- Family Research Council: $1,000
The two organizations to which Chik-Fil-A's charity has made the largest contributions bears further inquiry:
$631,600 to National Christian FoundationThe National Christian Foundation is a grant-making foundation that has made "hundreds of grants" to anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family, Family Life, and the Family Research Council, according to the Philanthropy Roundtable's publication "Reviving Marriage In America: Strategies for Donors." NCF allows donors to direct their donations and has experienced a surge in interest among donors in funding marriage-related giving. [...]
In short, The National Christian Foundation is a conduit for monies "earmarked" to local anti-gay groups, and particularly allows the donor to specify that the monies given be used to oppose gay rights including the right to marriage. It allows Chik-fil-A to launder their contributions and direct how they are spent without appearing expressly anti-gay.
$480,000 to Fellowship of Christian AthletesEvery year, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) holds a National College Conference that the conference Director, Danny Burns, described as where "God freed some people from homosexuality, sexual sins, addictions and even ushered newcomers into His Kingdom".
The application to become an FCA Ministry Leader requires applicants to agree with the FCA's Sexual Purity Statement, which condemns gays as engaging in an "Impure Lifestyle":
God desires His children to lead pure lives of holiness. The Bible is clear in teaching on sexual sin including sex outside of marriage and homosexual acts. Neither heterosexual sex outside of marriage nor any homosexual act constitute an alternate lifestyle acceptable to God. [FCA Application, accessed 2/8/11]The FCA website also includes a testimonial from a coach who had been "delivered" away from homosexuality.
Clearly, to deny that Chik-fil-A has no association with organizations actively attacking the rights of gay individuals is a lie. This family owned business clearly the elimination of homosexuality and rights for homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people sees part of its God-given mission on earth.
And that is why the relentlessly anti-gay American Family Association has organized a "Buycott" to help Chik-fil-A weather this "secularist" storm of bad publicity. The AFA (a group that organized the boycotts against Disney and Ford Motor Co. for allegedly pro-gay activities and non-discriminatory practices) clearly does not want to see the business of one of the principal donors of funds to combat the "Gay Agenda" harmed in any way, shape or fashion.
However, Chik-fil-A's anti-gay activities and practices goes far beyond donations from its charitable arm targeted against gay causes. Here is some more information that the investigation by Equality Matters discovered about Chik-fil-A's anti-LGBT agenda:
2. Chick-Fil-A Reportedly Favors Married Employees, Investigates Their Personal LivesChick-Fil-A's Employment Practices Are Hostile Towards "Sinful" Candidates. Chick-fil-A requires potential franchise operators to disclose their marital status, number of dependents, and involvement in social, church, and other organizations. Employees may be fired for engaging in "sinful" behavior, and Truett Cathy has said he aims to hire workers who are married:
Loyalty to the company isn't the only thing that matters to Cathy, who wants married workers, believing they are more industrious and productive. One in three company operators have attended Christian-based relationship-building retreats through WinShape at Berry College in Mount Berry, Ga. The programs include classes on conflict resolution and communication. Family members of prospective operators--children, even--are frequently interviewed so Cathy and his family can learn more about job candidates and their relationships at home. "If a man can't manage his own life, he can't manage a business," says Cathy, who says he would probably fire an employee or terminate an operator who "has been sinful or done something harmful to their family members." [Forbes, 2/23/07]3. Chick-Fil-A's Partnership With Focus On The Family
From October to November of 2005, Chick-fil-A partnered with Focus on the Family and Digital Praise Inc. to give away free interactive CDs of Focus on the Family's radio program Adventures in Odyssey, which presents kids with "important moral and biblical principles," with every Chick-fil-A Kid's Meal. [Digital Praise, 10/17/05]
Focus on the Family is notoriously anti-gay, promoting the theory that gays and lesbians can change their sexual orientation and arguing that homosexuality "violates God's intentional design for gender and sexuality." [Focus on the Family, accessed 2/8/11]
4. Sponsorship Of Anti-Gay Hate Group Affiliate
Since 2008, Chick-fil-A has been a sponsor of All Pro Dad, a program created by the Tampa-based organization Family First, also known as the "Florida Family Council." The Florida Family Council is an affiliate of the American Family Association, which has been designated as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. [The Gospel According to Disney, 2004; SPLC, Spring 2005]
- Chick-fil-A Sponsors All Pro Dad. [Chick-fil-A, accessed 2/4/11; Voice of Reason, No.3, 2005]
- Family First Is Actually The Florida Family Council. [Trademarkia, accessed 2/4/11 and 2/4/11]
- Florida Family Council is an Affiliate of the American Family Association [The Gospel According to Disney,2004];
- SPLC designated the American Family Association an anti-gay hate group [SPLC, Spring 2005]
In 1995, the Florida Family Council opposed Disney's decision to extend health benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees, helping draft a letter then called the decision "anti-family" and inappropriate for a company that provides "wholesome, family-oriented entertainment." [LA Times, 10/19/95]
Mark Merrill, Florida Family Council president, has been a vocal critic of marriage equality. In an interview with NPR in 1996, he criticized Disney for putting domestic partnerships "on a same footing with heterosexual marriage" [...]
5. WinShape's "Traditional Marriage" Activities
WinShape's Programs Are Offered Only To Traditional Couples
Following the initial controversy over Chick-fil-A's connection to the Pennsylvania Family Institute, the Good As You website posted an email discussion between the WinShape Retreat and someone asking if the programs offered there were open to same-sex couples. WinShape made it clear that it's programs were meant to promote a biblical standard of marriage ...WinShape Partners With The Marriage CoMission
The WinShape Foundation works with the Marriage CoMission, a coalition of groups formed in response to the decline of "the traditional family in America." Since its inception, the CoMission has been supported by anti-gay activists such as Exodus International's Alan Chambers and Citizens for Community Values' Barry Sheets. [Marriage CoMission, accessed 2/4/11, Marriage CoMission, accessed 2/4/11]
Every year since 2003, WinShape has hosted the Marriage CoMission's annual Marriage CoMission Strategy Summit at its Georgia retreat. WinShape spent $18 million over the past several years renovating the retreat center in order to hold seminars and conferences relating to marriage. [Marriage CoMission, accessed 2/4/11; Rome News-Tribune, 2004]
The summit has served as a meeting ground for anti-gay activists. Notorious anti-gay attendants include NOM's Maggie Gallagher - who gave a speech on "Marriage and Public Policy," Ruth Institutes' Jennifer Morse, Institute for American Values' David Blankenhorn, and Focus on the Family president Jim Daly.
Well, I think you get the picture. Chik-fil-A is up to its scrawny chicken neck in the promotion of homophobia, anti-LGBT prejudice and the movement to limit rights for LGBT individuals and their families, if not push them back into the closet altogether. To claim, as President Dan Cathy does, that Chik-fil-A has no agenda against anyone is a blatant lie. As I recall, that violates one of the Ten Commandments, but then this brand of Christian has always been about the ends justifying the means. They can fire you if you are an employee for lying, but their own lies are told to promote a higher value, so those lies can be ignored.
As I said earlier, I don't eat fried chicken or fast food much anymore, but if you do, and if a company that spends time and money opposing the rights of their fellow citizens based on "biblical principles" bothers you, I suggest you take your disposable money for "fast food' purchases to some other establishment other than one that is hell bent on preaching a Gospel of Hate, a Gospel of Dominionist Christianity, as documented in this 2007 blog post at Talk to Action:
Chick-Fil-A may have some of the best-known links to dominionism, in part because of their extensive promotion of dominionists in things as simple as children's meals.One of the tactics Chick-Fil-A is infamous for is stealth evangelism targeting kids--via use of both Veggietales and via giving out Focus on the Family audio programs as children's meal incentives.
"Veggietales" was originally created by Paxson Communications (owner of PAX-TV and a major player in the dominionist "alternate media") as an alternative to PBS programming for families in the dominionist "parallel economy"; according to the very creators of the show, they apparently think Sesame Street promotes the "homosexual agenda" and hence the creators made the "parallel economy" alternative.
Veggietales is, by the explicit admission of the creator, designed to recruit kids into dominionism as early as the toddler age; disturbingly, Veggietales has been used to recruit kids into "revivals" held by Assemblies "name it and claim it" preacher Luis Palau and in a flyer distributed in a public school trying to recruit kids into a "Jesus Camp" type summer camp affair.
Of disturbing note, the creator of Veggietales is linked to one of the early dominionist "Joel's Army" groups, Maranatha (FACTnet, a group dedicated to exposing coercive and abusive groups, has more info here). Maranatha was so spiritually abusive it was banned on multiple state campuses; it has since reinvented itself under the names "Morning Star International" and "Every Nation".
Chick-Fil-A has distributed CDs of the dominionist program Adventures in Odyssey; this show has been described as a Radio "Jesus Camp", and is broadcast on radio stations that are part of the dominionist "alternate media". Show topics have included promotion of assistance to the Contras (under the guise of "evangelisation" of the Miskitu first nation--a very common method FGBMFI-linked groups used to funnel aid to the Contras which made the Miskitu targets of both the Contras and Sandanistas as a result; the Miskitu had been Christianised since the early 1800s and actually had a European style of government by the 1850s, and were in fact largely Protestant well before the dominionists came with their Contra funding-fronts). Other fun radio topics include the wholescale genocide of a people simply because they were pagans and a story on how it is permissible to steal and destroy roleplaying games belonging to another person to prevent them from being "demonised".
Chick-Fil-A has also been associated with the promotion of "dad's groups" linked to Campus Crusade for Christ (which has been noted as being coercive on a number of campuses) and promotes the Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation--a group that has promoted "bait and switch" evangelism, is a major funding source for dominionist groups, and is most known for having famous sports figures (including, formerly, NASCAR racer Jeff Gordon) promoting an explicitly dominionist version of the New Testament.
Truett Cathy, the head of Chick-Fil-A, claims to >use "Biblical principles" in running Chick-Fil-A--often this is a code-word often used in the dominionist community to flag a business as "dominionist friendly".
Hawking dominionist "kid's meals" is bad enough. That's far from the only support Chick-Fil-A gives to dominionists, though.
Among other things, Chick-Fil-A is a major sponsor of National Bible Week--a dominionist-operated scheme to get state legislatures to pass resolutions declaring a week of Bible study and which was started by a proto-dominionist group in 1940 called the "National Coalition for Religious Recovery" (which felt the Great Depression occured because people "got away from the church"); is one of the largest corporate funders of Focus on the Family (and FotF has lauded him back in past--after all, he does drop those CDs encouraging the genocide of the entire pagan population into kid's meals); apparently publishes books on "Christian business" popular in the dominionist community; and operates a fairly extensive group of facilities targeting kids and adults.
And when I say "Winshape" is extensive, I mean extensive; the network includes a "parallel economy" alternative to Outward Bound, a "training group" for collegiate dominionists, a network of foster-care homes, a own "Jesus Camp" type affair, an explicit missionary corps a la Youth With A Mission to train "future Christian leaders" (presumably to start dominionist movements in their own countries), a religious retreat (which is affiliated with a college which started out as a conservative Bible college and missionary school (and is still technically a Protestant college, though they do allow non-Protestants to attend), and finally a marriage counseling retreat.
In regards to that "retreat"--it includes seminars from a dominionst "marriage counseling" service (which has a bibolatrous statement of faith); the counseling service has links to Salem-controlled groups as well as a plethora of dominionist sponsored links. (As noted, Salem Communications is a big player in dominionist radio.) The Winshape marriage seminars also include links to a second "Christian counseling" service which is explicitly dominionists-only; in fact, it's associated with an "ministerial mill" with close links with steeplejacked congregations and dominionist churches--as revealed in the staff page. Folks associated with Intimate Care Ministries (one of the groups linked to the second group) have been associated with Bill Gothard et al; Bill Gothard is a known promoter of dominionist "deliverance ministry", including operation of dominionist "character city" stealth-evangelism programs aimed at public schools and promoting the rather bizarre idea that "Cabbage Patch Kids" dolls were demonically possessed and caused infertility, and at least one exit-counseling group considers his work potentially abusive.
Rather disturbingly, it also has programs that could potentially put spouses at danger (there is no communication with the outside world, and at least some of the tracks deal with spouses who are physically abusive to their spouses--a situation where it is far more appropriate for the spouses to separate and the abused spouse to protect him/herself)).
If that's the kind of America you want, well go buy all the Chik-fil-A food you can eat until you choke on it. Otherwise, spread the word, that these are nasty people with a nasty, cruel and heartless ideology that seeks worldly power, the imposition of "Biblical Law" under a Theocratic government and the destruction of our democracy.