Chick-Fil-A Archives - A Father of Twin Boys

Last night the boys and I were driving the nanny home and I made the mistake of driving past the Chick-fil-A. Rookie mistake, I know, but it was too late once they saw the red sign. So as we drive past, the boys start asking to go to Chick-fil-A, but they have both been having stomach issues and I just didn’t think that going for dinner was a good idea.

Well for the next 20 minutes, Baby B, now mind you, this is the one that only said Ma and Da about 8 months ago. And he is in the back seat saying “I go Chick-fil-A” and “go to Chick-fil-A me?”. Man, that got me. But then I got thinking about how the boys could really eat there every day. They love that place and so do I for that matter. A Spicy Chicken sandwich and let’s not even talk about how good the waffle fries and sweet tea are. Crap, now I want Chick-fil-A.

But as we are driving home, I thought about how the media really went after the Chick-fil-A corporation and the picketing, etc after the comments about same sex marriage. And mind you, we are talking about the media, making comments, that a private business owner said in expressing his views. But, when just a few weeks ago, the snow storm that hit Atlanta, Ga and there were thousands of motorists stranded on the side of the road and a Chick-fil-A manager, fired up the grills and started making sandwich for stranded drivers so that they could eat, that received very little attention in the media. It is sad how our media focuses on such negative stories, but the ones that they should give the most attention to, the one where thousands of stranded drivers were given a free sandwich, even when many attempted to pay, they received the My Pleasure statement in return, that is not the lead story on the evening news.

So, I could easily substitute the beginning of this song from I Could eat to My boys could eat and it still works, but I think that Tim Hawkins got it right with this song.

In case that you have lived under a rock for the last two weeks, you might have heard that the CEO, Dan Cathy,
made comments recently about the “support of the traditional family”, i.e. the marriage between a man and a woman.

Today I was asked by a friend what I thought of all this, because 1) I would have an opinion, 2) I watch the news on a daily basis and I keep up with going on and 3) I am a Christian. So here is a summary of my response.

The CEO of a private of company made a public comment
What if McDonald’s or a company founded or run by an atheist, would they be the same standard?
Did they know realize that Chick-Fil-A was founded on Christian principles?
Aren’t we all humans and why can’t we enjoy some waffle fries?

So to expand on these a little more, here is what I was trying to get at.

The CEO of Chick-Fil-A, Dan Cathy, made a comment about his personal views about the company. His comment was in regards to the “support of the traditional family”. At no time did he mention that Chick-Fil-A was refusing a gay person or their significant other a meal? Did he mention that Chick-Fil-A would not franchise out a new store to a gay couple? No.

But let’s take it a step further. What if McDonald’s had made the same statement? Would there be the same outcry? And what if the owner of a private McDonald’s franchise was an atheist, would they receive the same negative press? I don’t have an answer to that question.

But who doesn’t know that Chick-Fil-A isn’t owned and for the most part, operated by Christians that own franchises? For goodness sake, they are closed on Sundays. Seriously? What more do you want to know? Do a few Google searches and you will quickly realize where the founding principles of the company come from. But, take a step back and ask yourself again, if an atheist owned a company, would you have the same response? Would people/the public/the news be so quick to jump to the same conclusions and statements? Here is just 1 article that I found from Forbes.com.

So for my disclaimer, I do not know Dan Cathy or for that matter, anyone that works at Chick-Fil-A. However, I do love their food. The spicy chicken sandwich and waffles fries are off the hook. That being said, here are my personal views. I don’t care that Dan Cathy made these comments, because, he as a business owner, made a statement about his company. A statement, that should not have shocked anyone. I truly believe that if you were to poll 10 people, they would almost all agree that Chick-Fil-A is a Christian company. But to go 1 final step, a private citizen, who made a comment, but did not discriminate against anyone entering into one of their stores. The Muppets have been dropped by Chick-Fil-A, the Mayor of Boston tells Chick-Fil-A to stay out of Boston, and now Governor Huckabee is launching a Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day.

Where does it all end? I just want a Spicy Grilled Chicken and some waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A and call it a day.