Chick-fil-A, Mike Huckabee, and Rainbows

Yesterday I was leaving the grocery store, and I got stopped in a crazy traffic jam. I noticed police directing traffic, flares on the road, and a huge line of cars. As the cars inched forward, I realized that I was actually in the Chick Fil A drive thru lane, which extended about half a mile onto my road. On the corner of the street were about a dozen men in their mid twenties. They were wearing bright, rainbow-colored tie-dye shirts and holding signs that said things like, "Eat Less Hate." Some cars honked and waved to them. Some yelled insults.














Across the road in a parking lot a church bus pulled up, loudly honking its horn in celebration. Church members poured out and made it across the street, careful to avoid getting to close to the protesters. The line outside the restaurant to get in wrapped all the way around the building.

I pulled into a parking lot across the street from the restaurant to just watch. What were these people really buying? What were some really protesting?

On July 2, a story was posted in the Biblical Recorder magazine, a small North Carolina Baptist news journal. In the article, Dan Cathy, the COO of Chick Fil A talks about is company and their role in the faith community. Most of the article deals with being a missionary in the work place and some of the contributions they have been able to make to their communities through their faith stance. He talks about the positive influence they have been able to have on young men playing football in the SEC and ACC through the Chick Fil A bowl.

In the last couple of paragraphs, Cathy mentions the WinShape foundation invested in by his company. Then this line comes:

Some have opposed the company's support of the traditional family. "Well, guilty as charged," said Cathy when asked about the opposition. "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."....."We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

Rumors quickly swirled that money from Chick Fil A was being invested through WinShape into anti-gay activist groups and ministries.

I did some research, and according the public records, WinShape did in fact invest in Exodus International in 2010: $1,000.

They also gave $1.18 million to the Marriage and Family Foundation, which focuses on strengthening existing marriages and families by providing retreats and counseling. It's also run by Donald Cathy, who happens to be Dan Cathy's brother.

I'm not saying that Chick Fil A and Dan Cathy don't support anti-gay marriage groups. I'm just saying that when your restaurant makes $3.5 billion a year, this fight is happening over 0.05% of the money this company has made.

OK, now let me get to the point of this whole post. This REALLY blew up when for presidential candidate and governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee called on social media for people to respond to the backlash against Chick Fil A. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up for Chick Fil A appreciation day yesterday. 650,000 people on Facebook responded saying that they were going to participate in the event.

Therefore, I sat in a traffic jam.

Let me recap: This was like a group of people seeing a mosquito biting them and shooting it off with a bazooka, then a group of people who like mosquitos got upset with the bazooka people for over reacting, so they dropped an atomic bomb on them.

Remember back in the day when former governor's of Arkansas weren't exactly a model of the traditional American family?

I want to touch on another side of this whole thing: social media. None of this happens without it. No one hears about some tiny baptist journal in North Carolina. No one reads the article. It doesn't show up in Google searches and get shared. People aren't able to have quick access to public records of their philanthropic giving. No one bashes Chick Fil A on twitter or facebook. Huckabee and Santorum don't start online campaigns for Chick Fil A support. Hundreds of thousands of people DON'T go to Chick Fil A, no one protests outside, and most importantly...

... I get home in time for dinner. I had steak. With my traditional family.

I don't know what that last line means, but it sounds controversial.

Most of all, regardless of where you come down on this issue, let's please keep things in perspective. And for crying out loud, love each other. I'm pretty sure Jesus said something about that.