Thursday, October 17, 2019

Full-A-Homophobia, Eh?




I see that one of the largest fast food chains in the United States just opened its first outlet in Great Britain. I was on a road trip to the States with my brother a few years back and had my first and only experience at Chick-Fil-A, which as the name suggests serves very tasty chicken sandwiches. We laughed when we discovered that the Fila-A is pronounced "filet." If you want it to sound French, why not spell it as the French do? 

We had no idea that the family which founded Chick-Fil-A considers themselves to be devout Christians and have made billions despite being closed on Sundays.In his book Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People (I kid you not) the founder Truett Cathy says"closing our business on Sunday, the Lord's Day, is our way of honoring God and showing our loyalty to Him."  

While keeping the sabbath holy is admirable the Cathy family's opposition to LGBTQ rights isn't. A British article about the opening says:

 It is the Christian faith baked into the brand’s DNA which has resulted in its million-dollar support for groups that have opposed same-sex marriage, and for a (now-dissolved) group that promoted conversion therapy, a bogus — and discredited — ideology that casts homosexuality as a curable illness.

Image result for chick fil a toronto protest

Protest at Chick-Fil-A opening in Toronto

It's interesting and sad that this conservative version of Christianity is described as Christian faith, without any recognition that it isn't the only one. Just the same, the Cathy family's controversial theology led to protests in Britain and in Toronto when the one and only Chick-Fil-A opened last month. As the photo above shows, protesters in TO made a rather strong statement of disapproval about the opening, the first of several planned locations in the GTA.

It's simple for me. I just won't eat there and hope that others will make decisions based on another perspective of what it means to be faithful Christian. And shouldn't it be Chick-Fil-EH in Canada? 

Thoughts? 

Update: Because of the British outrage about the Chick-Fil-A opening it will close in six months. People power. 

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