Amendment 1 to the Bill of Rights
To preface this blog post, I am not always very eloquent in expressing my thoughts, I sometimes wonder if the things in my heart have come across as I intended them to nevertheless I feel it important to put my thoughts into words regarding the Chick-fil-a insanity (and yes, that is just what it is INSANITY). Let me start off this post by giving you the text from the 1st amendment of the Bill of Rights. It reads as follows:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This tells me a couple of things: 1. We have the freedom, nay, the RIGHT to worship how, where, or what we may and that the government can not make any law that takes away that right, 2. We have the freedom to say what we want, when we want, how we want, to whomever we want with out fear of retribution from the government (without probable cause).
So, the Chick-fil-a insanity is wrong on several levels, first of all, why even ask the CEO his views on same sex marriage? What does it matter as related to the business of selling fast food? I say that it does not. Secondly, we are all entitled to our opinions. It does not make us hateful, bigoted, etc. It does not make it right for others to attack Mr. Cathy and his company. It is a well known fact that most Christians are pro-family as defined in the scriptures. This does not mean we are anti-gay. In fact some of the people that I know and love are living that lifestyle and it does not change how I view them or how I feel about them.
Lastly, I would like to end with this simple fact, Chick-fil-a has the VERY BEST customer service of any fast food restaurant that I have ever been to. They do not discriminate against anyone. They are friendly, kind, helpful, and they go out of your way to make sure that you feel welcome in your restaurant by refilling drinks, swapping out kids meal prizes for ice cream or another toy so that you don’t have duplicates, bringing dinner mints and food samples by your table, and keeping the restaurant clean and even making sure the tables have fresh LIVE flowers. Chick-fil-a cares about it’s customers. It is evident to me that the values of Christ like love have trickled down all the way from the CEO to each individual branch. We need more of this love in the world and less hate, slander, and belittling. As such I am grateful for Chick-fil-a’s efforts to welcome me and my family into their restaurants.