Since people keep coming back to my blogs, I have to assume that you care about what I think. So here it goes.
Personally I find this whole thing ridiculous, and I mean that from both sides. The Cathy Family are Christian conservatives, they have never hid that fact since they franchised the Chick Fil A restaurants. They are not allowed to be open on Sundays, that is part of the franchise agreement. Chick Fil A has a very slow growth plan that has helped them grow into the second largest chicken fast food restaurant in the country. It has worked for them. They don't normally allow a franchise owner to own more than one, and they are looking for owners who are going to be hands on. They are not looking for people to turn the place over in a short period of time. They approve about 80 applications per year.
Now, it is a fact that not all owners agree with the Cathy's stance on marriage. At least one Chick Fil A is going to participate in a gay pride parade sometime this summer. I don't know the exact date. That is one of the reasons that I find this so silly. These are individually owned, how does anyone know what the owner actually thinks? I am sure that they are just like the country as a whole; some will agree, some will disagree.
The left for some reason has chosen this restaurant as the poster child of hate. Hate is a very strong word. A word that the left doesn't fully define. Because I am against gay marriage and I have friends who are gay. They are my friends, so obviously I don't hate them. I was asked once by a former boss about my friendship with two men who happen to be gay, Ken and Norman. Both great guys who I love dearly. Norman and I hung out outside of work as well. We have been to each other homes. He is a very good man who happens to be gay. I don't want him tied up, gassed or anything else for that matter. He can work where he wants, he can live where he wants, the only two things that I don't think he can do is get married or adopt children. I know gay people who don't think that gay people raising children is a good idea. His opinion is that childhood is hard enough without having that added pressure of being the odd kid out with gay parents. He takes a great deal of ridicule, and yes outright hate from other gays for his belief. He has been in a long-term relationship, something like 20 years. Both families are very accepting of them, and they have nieces and nephews that they love dearly. I don't think a gay person is a danger to a child in any way, I just think that it just makes their lives harder than they need to be and question is placing an adopted child in that environment the best thing for them. I don't think that it is. Am I a bigot or a hater? According to many I am.
This is what Christians see. They see a society that has consistently told them that what they believe makes them haters and bigots. They see a society that tells them that their rights as an American citizen to worship freely is really just a hate crime. Put a Christmas tree in a town square and you are forcing your beliefs unto someone else, yet forcing them to accept gay marriage is tolerance. It was only about 50 years ago that Christian conservatives started having a voice in politics. For the most part before then they went about their lives, but the sexual and cultural revolutions forced them to find their voice.
You hear from more moderate people in the republican party that they are going to be the ruin of it. They are ridiculed in pop culture as ignorant hicks. It never occurs to the people doing the ridiculing that all they are doing is standing by what they deeply believe in.
Every Christian in the end gets called a hypocrite. Somehow a Christian has to be perfect or they are one. They are not allowed to make the same mistakes that others are allowed to make. No Christian will ever tell they are perfect. They will flat-out say that they fall short each and every day. But, they try to live the best that they can in the eyes of God and what the bible tells them that they are to strive for.
The fact remains if you are ready to redefine marriage then you need to be all in. If you are not, it is the same intolerance that you are accusing Christians of. There are approximately 6 million Muslims in the United States. Plural marriage is widely accepted in the faith of Islam. There are still Mormons who practice that as well. If you are going to redefine marriage for homosexuals, then you must redefine for all. Using the logic that is used if you don't approve of gay marriage, you are a hater and bigot if you don't agree.
Christians feel that they and their belief system is under constant attack in this country. You can disagree with that premise, but that doesn't make it less so. Now, if the issue truly is about the issues of benefits that can be done without redefining marriage. But the problem is that isn't what this is truly about. It is truly about forcing the Christian belief system out of this country.
There are conservative churches that are being sued for being unwilling to perform marriage ceremonies for gay people in states where gay marriage is legal. That is about forcing their will on an organization that doesn't want it. My church would close its doors before it performed a marriage ceremony for people of the same-sex. I wouldn't want it any other way. Those are my beliefs, beliefs that I am entitled to under our constitution. You see, you don't get to have it both ways. The radical agenda that is being pushed by some in this fight are trying to force their will upon me, and using the tactic that it is the other way around. Do I believe that everyone in this movement feels that way? No. Many just refuse to see what is really happening. A push has been going on this country to eliminate all that is Christian for about 100 years. They are getting closer and closer to getting it done. They have accomplished this in part by redefining many things in our culture. They have made the killing of an unborn baby just another lifestyle choice of getting rid of some cells. They have made sex on the first date commonplace. This is regardless to the bad effects that it has on society. If it feels good, do it. The consequences of your actions be left for another day, or better yet just leave them for someone else to clean up.
I don't hate gay people. I could care less what consenting adults do in their bedrooms. What I do care about is the society that we are leaving for the next generation. I care about God having a place in the lives for the believers. You don't want to believe in God, don't. That is your choice, it is your soul. But stop trying to take away my choices and the life that I want to live and to leave to the next generation. The next time someone wants to call me a hater, just think about this; how much tolerance do you have for Christians? Probably not very much. Eating or not eating at Chick Fil A will change none of this. So I didn't waste my money or time today.
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