{"id":2518,"date":"2012-08-03T09:49:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T13:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=2518"},"modified":"2012-08-06T09:55:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T13:55:45","slug":"a-cultural-game-of-chicken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/08\/a-cultural-game-of-chicken.html","title":{"rendered":"A cultural game of chicken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a sandwich is just a sandwich.<\/strong> Suddenly eating at Chick-fil-A has become a political statement regarding gay marriage — with people literally lining up <\/a>and puckering up <\/a>to make their positions known.\u00a0 Some thoughts:<\/p>\n

1. I can understand some of the resentment gay people have toward some Christians who seem to think it’s their business to tell them they’re going to hell.\u00a0 One thing I think the Bible is pretty clear on is that presuming to judge the eternal fate of other people is not our place.<\/p>\n

2. That said, most Christians, like most gays, just want to be left alone.<\/p>\n

3. Here’s\u00a0 what Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy actually said<\/a>:\u00a0“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'” adding “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”\u00a0 That’s his opinion.\u00a0 As far as I know, Chick-Fil-A serves and employs anyone — without regard to sexual orientation.\u00a0 So, labeling the chain as “anti-gay” seems to be a bit of a stretch.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 I, personally, don’t have a chicken in this fight. I’m on record <\/a>as saying that the state should get out of the sacrament business and leave the definition of marriages to individual churches, synagogues and mosques\u00a0 to be decided according to their own values. I wrote: Why can\u2019t the federal government issue civil unions that would have nothing to do with sexuality (a private matter)? Such unions would extend legal, financial and insurance rights to partnerships involving both gay and straight couples, as well adult unmarried siblings, relatives or friends who could benefit from such legal arrangements. They really don\u2019t have to have anything to do with who\u2019s having sex with who \u2014 again, none of the government\u2019s business.<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, this is a fight we don’t need to have, except that we seem to want to have it.<\/p>\n

5. All that said, it is possible for a person to be against legalizing gay marriage without being “anti-gay” or, to use a term that is thrown around way to easily, “a hater.”\u00a0 Do we believe that people who argue against cigarette smoking (even to the point of making\u00a0 the practice illegal) hate cigarette smokers?\u00a0 Even as a non-smoker, I believe anti-smoking activists sometimes cross the line into bullying and harassment — just as gay marriage opponents\u00a0 sometimes do.\u00a0 They often will argue that they actually have the interests of\u00a0 smokers (and society at large) at heart.\u00a0 Sound familiar? Of course, extreme positions against smoking are virtually never equated with hate.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
6.\u00a0 The idea that mayors of major municipalities like Boston, Chicago and San Francisco would actually ban an entire enterprise from doing business in their city because of its CEO’s stand on a political issue is truly worrisome. Freedom of speech is not something to be thrown under a city bus. Even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg<\/a>, not usually shy about regulation, wisely says “You really don\u2019t want to ask political beliefs or religious beliefs before you issue a permit. That\u2019s just not government\u2019s job.\u201d<\/div>\n

7. Speaking of bullying and harassment, regardless of how you feel about Cathy’s statement, browbeating\u00a0 a defenseless employee who’s just trying to make ends meet is uncool.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> I deleted from his space a widely-circulated YouTube posting of the incident described above (apparently originally proudly recorded by the harasser himself). I did so after reading <\/a>that he not only lost his job due to his obnoxious behavior but that he and his family have been subject to harassment and threats themselves by people on the other side of the issue. That’s uncool too. Also, I believe, unChristian.<\/p>\n

Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. Sometimes a sandwich is just a sandwich. Suddenly eating at Chick-fil-A has become a political statement regarding gay marriage — with people literally lining up and puckering up to make their positions known.\u00a0 Some thoughts: 1. I can understand some of the resentment gay…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,714,1],"tags":[35,3221,3222,693,3223],"class_list":["post-2518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-current-events","category-gay-issues","category-uncategorized","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-chic-fil-a","tag-chick-fil-a-ceo-dan-cathy","tag-gay-marriage","tag-new-york-city-mayor-michael-bloomberg"],"yoast_head":"\nA cultural game of chicken<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2012\/08\/a-cultural-game-of-chicken.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A cultural game of chicken\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s today’s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. 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He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. 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