Recently, Rider University in New Jersey removed chicken sandwich chain Chick-fil-A from a survey listing potential dining options “based on the company’s record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ community.
” According to The Associated Press, the school wanted to honor its own values of inclusion, which Chick-fil-A does not appear to share.
Chick-fil-A is a Georgia-based fast-food restaurant chain specializing in chicken entrées that opened its first outlet in suburban Atlanta in 1967 and has since grown to encompass over 1,600 restaurants in 39 states.
The operations of the chain reflect the religious values of Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer S. Truett Cathy, whose biography notes that he has “built his life and business based on hard work, humility and biblical principles” and that “based on these principles, all of Chick-fil-A’s restaurants operate with a ‘Closed-on-Sunday’ policy, without exception.”
Chick-fil-A has been the subject of political controversy due to its WinShape Foundation, a charitable endeavor founded by S. Truett Cathy and his wife, Jeanette, which critics contend has evidenced a bias in the Chick-fil-A company by donating millions of dollars to groups with anti-gay agendas:
Let’s all eat at Chick-Fil-A this week.
Now the Socialists (AKA Obama Democrats) have targeted Chick-Fil-A, a Southern-based company with the below resume. I think I’ll have a Chick-Fil-A sandwich tomorrow.
Chick-fil-A is an American success story. Founded by Georgian entrepreneur Truett Cathy in 1946, the family-owned chicken-sandwich chain is one of the country’s largest fast-food businesses. It employs some 50,000 workers across the country at 1,500 outlets in nearly 40 states and the District of Columbia … The company generates more than $2 billion in revenue and serves millions of happy customers with trademark Southern hospitality.
So, what’s the problem? Well, Chick-fil-A is run by devout Christians who believe in strong marriages, devoted families, and the highest standards of character for their workers.
The restaurant chain’s official corporate mission is to “glorify God” and “enrich the lives of everyone we touch.” The company’s community service initiatives, funded through its WinShape Foundation, support foster-care, scholarship, summer-camp, and marriage enrichment programs.
On Sunday, all Chick-fil-A stores close so workers can spend the day at worship and rest.
Over the past month, several progressive activist blogs have waged an ugly war against Chick-fil-A. The company’s alleged atrocity: One of its independent outlets in Pennsylvania donated some sandwiches and brownies to a marriage seminar run by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which happens to oppose same-sex marriage.
In the name of tolerance, the anti-Chick-fil-A hawks sneered at the company’s main product as “Jesus Chicken,” derided its no-Sunday-work policy, and attacked its operators as “anti-gay.” Petition drives on websites are demanding the company change and disavow their standards. Facebook users dutifully organized witch hunts against the company on college campuses.
Progressive groups are gloating over Chick-fil-A’s public-relations troubles. This is not because they care about winning hearts and minds over gay rights or marriage policy, but because their core objective is to marginalize political opponents and chill Christian philanthropy and activism.
The fearsome “muscle flexing” is being done by the hysterical bullies trying to drive them off of college grounds and out of their neighborhoods in the name of “human rights.”
Clearly, the Christian businessman who lives what he believes deserves our support….Thank God that some people are strong enough to stand up for what they believe even in the face of assault and ridicule from those who have no integrity….Let’s all eat at Chick-fil-A. —
Let’s all eat Chick-Fil-A! Truett Cathy founded a wonderful company who hires teenagers and pays their way to college. Not only that, it is delicious. These people are undermining American strongholds in order to weaken us for the enemy within and the enemy without!
Please pass this on if you believe companies with Christian principles have a right to freely conduct business in the U.S.
As a result, Chick-fil-A has recently faced opposition from students at ten U.S. universities, including New York University (NYU), who have circulated petitions to oppose the opening of new Chick-fil-A franchises on their campuses and lobbied for the removal of existing restaurants. The company has maintained that neither they nor the organizations they donate to through WinShape have an “anti-gay” agenda:
This news story represents a good opportunity to clarify misconceptions about our brand. Chick-fil-A is a restaurant company focused on food, service, and hospitality, and our restaurants and licensed locations on college campuses welcome everyone. We have no policy of discrimination against any group, and we do not have a political or social agenda.
Most people trace Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay stance to a 2012 interview with Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, in which he stated: “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, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.” The company also has previously donated to conservative groups like the Marriage And Family Foundation and the Family Research Council.
So on one hand: Delicious chicken sandwich. On the other, a company that may not align with your values as a consumer.
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