Overexposure-fil-A

I'll be honest with you: I'm scared of airing my opinion.

Why? Because my feelings lean a little bit into either side of this argument. Which, of course, means everyone's going to find something to ream me about.

The Cliffs Notes version:


If you ate at Chick-fil-A yesterday, you hate gays, rainbows, unicorns, polyester, and the idea of equality (but you love Fox News). You probably also think that Hitler was a respectable young man for standing firm in his beliefs.


If you didn't eat at Chick-fil-A yesterday, you hate God, free speech, all Christians, apple pie, Betsy Ross, and the American way. You probably also spent your day stepping on baby bald eagles, because that's how much you hate America.


There. I think that covered everyone fairly, don't you? No? Read on.

Over the past day or so, I've developed quite a love-hate relationship with my Facebook feed. In a sick, twisted sort of way, I loved reading the discourse among my friends who were fired up (on either side of this whole Chick-fil-A craziness), reading the comments of dissent from friends who were threatening to defriend if they did/didn't agree with Dan Cathy's views on marriage, and kind of laughed to myself at the frenzied political fanaticism that's stemming from chicken.

Because you need to laugh at this stuff. Otherwise, it's going to make you cry.

That's where the hate of my love-hate Facebook feelings comes from. And I hate even using the word "hate," especially when it's been thrown around like a beach ball at a rock concert lately. Hate is serious. It's not the way you feel about broccoli (no matter how much you don't like the feeling on your tongue). It isn't the way you feel about that guy that cut in front of you on the off-ramp. Hate is deep, and it's rooted in some purely evil stuff.

And you know what? I saw more hate thrown around at each other yesterday than I saw in a unidirectional manner. Everyone was being cut down for their opinions. Everyone was throwing up walls and ostracizing one another if they didn't hold the same values. It was like a food fight, only instead of food being hurled all over the cafeteria, it was insults, degradation, and otherwise unsportsmanlike conduct.



"But it's not about the chicken," many of my friends defended. "It's not even about what Dan Cathy's singular opinion is on marriage. It's what Chick-fil-A is funding with its customers' money."

I wholeheartedly agree. Many of the organizations Chick-fil-A publicly donates its profits to are even controversial among Christians and involve more-than-controversial views of human beings. Does anyone think that Jesus would give the ol' thumbs-up to groups using electroshock therapy to allegedly knock the gay right out of someone, or to single out one specific group of people about how utterly, unspeakably different and "awful" they are? No. Regardless of how you feel about gay folks or gay marriage, it's not okay (and not Christlike) to treat people as though they were sub-human. Read my lips: it's not okay. I don't care if it's gays, Christians, or serial killers. God is inexplicably, immensely in love with every single one of them.

That being said, have we evaluated what other unspeakable, inhumane things we fund with our consumerism? Apple was recently in the midst of a controversy over essentially using Chinese slaves to produce its sleek products, as well as using diamonds in their products that are steeped in African conflict. Every time we go to the gas pump, we send buckets of money to countries, many of which hold ages-old practices that involve stoning people to death, including gays, women, and other people who don't hold the same beliefs. All of this, in addition to countless other factories in all parts of the world that hurt people, hurt families, and have questionable motives at best. Would you like your money to go to any of that?

Should we boycott Apple as well, then, for keeping Chinese workers from earning any money to live off of, or for using African blood diamonds in their electronics? Should we keep away from the gas pump to avoid funding brutality toward humankind, persecuted just because they're different?

Or, are we going to cherry-pick and boycott something that's a little more convenient to give up, like chicken sandwiches and waffle fries, as opposed to our essential iPhones or gas tanks?




"But it's not about gay rights," said many of my friends. "It's about defending free speech. It's about being able to have an opinion without fear of retribution. That's our right as Americans."

That is absolutely true. We live in a country where we should (emphasis on should) be able to enjoy our First Amendment right to say what we want, to state our honest opinion and not be penalized for it. As American citizens, we also have the privilege of letting our dollar cast a vote, make a statement. If we want those dollars to support someone, we can. America did do that, by golly, in Chick-fil-A restaurants the world over. Places were running out of food, it was so successful.

As for all this hoopla about Boston and Chicago vowing never to let Chick-fil-A operate within their borders, I think that's a bit over the line. If Chick-fil-A legally has permission to build somewhere, they should be able to build. If the people of Boston or Chicago want to run them out of business by never setting foot in their restaurant, that's fine. Guess what? You have the freedom to do it. But Chick-fil-A has the freedom to set up shop wherever they'd like in this country just the same. And those who want to eat there have the right to do so without being branded with ugly, unfounded names (no more than those who oppose the restaurant's views should be given ugly names).

My high school government teacher explained our right to free speech a little like this: Having the right to free speech is like having the right to swing my arms around as much as I want, whenever I want, wherever I want. I enjoy that freedom as an American citizen. If I swing my arms so much that they hit someone else in the face, though, that's the problem. Ergo, we all have the right to free speech, until that free speech causes harm to others. Something to think about.




To my fellow Christians, here's a bit of required reading: Five Reasons Why the Church Failed Yesterday

I'm not going to pretend I have the same way with words as the author of that piece does. The whole thing is exceptional to read, but this is one of my favorite bits:

By rallying behind CFA, Christians put an issue above people. And it’s impossible to follow Jesus when issues trump people. Jesus never said “love God, love causes.” That is not the message that gets preached in churches all over America on Sunday mornings. I’ve heard a hundred different explanations from patrons of yesterday’s rally and nearly every one of them gives precedence to “the cause”. We can’t embrace love, mercy, hope, and peace when our causes (or a place of business) trumps people.

My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we're a bit more accountable than everyone else in this equation. Why? Because we're called to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, and, Jesus says, to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we claim to have the moral high ground, we'd better start walking the walk. If we falter in that walk once in a while, that's okay. It's just a reminder that we're sinners. We all are.

But that's the awesome thing about who Jesus is: he's come to feed the hungry. And whether or not we quench our earthly hunger with Chick-fil-A, Jesus is there to satiate something bigger.

Yes, world, something bigger than not even Chick-fil-A (or a lack thereof) can satisfy.


Jesus, friend of sinners, we have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name but the sword was never ours to swing
Jesus, friend of sinners, the truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to You but they're tripping over me
Always looking around but never looking up I'm so double minded
A plank eyed saint with dirty hands and a heart divided



Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours