I've been seeing a lot of Chik-Fil-A silliness these past couple days, so I just thought I'd add my 2 cents... Chik-Fil-A's president recently stated that he is against gay marriage. So, apparently the Boston mayor then told Chik-Fil-A to stay out of Boston. Some have taken this to mean he is going to actually keep Chik-Fil-A out himself. If this is the case, I agree with conservatives that this is a bad move. Let Chik-Fil-A come to Boston (and Chicago, and San Francisco, where similar threats have been made), and let potential customers decide if Chik-Fil-A can stay.
However, I do find it baffling when I read from Christians that Chik-Fil-A is being attacked for being pro family. I would actually argue the opposite, that since the restaurant is against marriage equality, they are anti-family. Obviously, gay people want to have families as well. But certain Christians would like to deny their rights to have their own family. And it is a right. Marriage is a civil right. Legalizing civil marriage for gay couples would not be forcing the church to accept anything, because the church would not be forced to marry gay people. The church can believe anything it wants with regard to gay people. What gay people are asking for is a marriage recognized by the government, not the church. So, even if your religion causes you to be against gay marriage, you can still be in support of civil rights. Because you wouldn't want someone else's religion to dictate your rights. But, my main point here is that people who are against gay marriage are not pro-family.
Secondly, Chik-Fil-A is loved by Christians partly because it closes on Sunday in honor of the Sabbath, showing reverance to God. Supposedly the restaurant is choosing God over profits. Yet I doubt its profits suffered much, as more Christians eat at Chik-Fil-A because it closes on Sunday. But furthermore, would these Christians that love Chik-Fil-A for this reason be happy if every business closed on Sunday? Do they never eat out, or go to the store, on Sunday? I doubt it. If I am wrong on this point, and you actually would be quite happy if all businesses (except emergency/health services) closed on Sunday, then I do apologize for that point.
However, I'd also like to point out that being closed on Sunday, being anti-marriage equality, and being married to your first wife (as was bragged by the president of the company) does not make one a Christian role model. For example, I think Jesus would be more about loving God and neighbor than campaigning against gay marriage. Also, I doubt he would eat at Chik-Fil-A. I did look on the Chik-Fil-A website, and I found that they are taking measures to be good stewards of the environment. That's good, although they do neglect one of the best ways to help the environement, which is eating less meat. What I didn't see was any mention of where they get their chickens. Restaurants usually like to brag if they are making an effort to get "natural" or "humane" meat, but I see no mention of that on Chik-Fil-A's site, so it is pretty safe to say they are using factory farmed meat. And really, that is something I don't think Jesus would support. Even if Jesus would eat meat were he walking around us today, he would not choose factory farmed meat, which treats animals (also God's creation) as machines instead of living, sentient creatures.
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