Stand for the Truth and Do It With Love

Who would have thought that the debate over same-sex unions would land at the counter of a chicken sandwich shop? The comments made by Dan Cathy, President of Chik-Fil-A, to a Baptist newspaper ignited a firestorm that now has marriage supporters flocking to support Cathy and homosexuals and their political allies calling for bans on the restaurant. This is a crazy world in which we live.

Al Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has an interesting take on the debate. On the CNN website he writes:

The controversy ignited when Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy, son of the company’s legendary founder, Truett Cathy, told a Baptist newspaper that he and his company “operate on biblical principles” and “are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit.”

Defining Chick-fil-A as “a family business,” Cathy went on to say that “We intend to stay the course. … 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.”

Within days, elected officials in Chicago, Boston and New York were pledging to deny the company access to their cities.

“Because of (Dan Cathy’s) ignorance, I will deny Chick-fil-A a permit to open a restaurant in my ward,” Chicago Alderman Proco Moreno said, in a threat echoed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was just as blunt: “Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston,” he said. “We’re an open city. We’re a city at the forefront of inclusion.”

But the kind of inclusion he had in mind would evidently exclude Chick-fil-A.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who just recently married her lesbian partner, called upon New York University to kick Chick-fil-A off its campus.

 

Echoing the Boston mayor’s lack of irony, she also called for exclusion in the name of inclusion: “We are a city that believes our diversity is our greatest strength, and we will fight anything and anyone that runs counter to that.”

Within days, Moreno, Emanuel and Menino had qualified their statements somewhat, promising to operate within the law and constitutional limits. Those clarifications became necessary when legal authorities quickly recognized threatened violations of First Amendment rights.

Mohler goes on to conclude:

When Emanuel and Moreno tell Chick-fil-A to stay out of Chicago, are they audacious enough to deliver that same message to the churches, mosques and synagogues of their city that also oppose same-sex marriage? What do they do with the fact that their own state does not allow same-sex marriages?

This country is deeply divided over the issue of same-sex marriage, and the controversy over Chick-fil-A is an ominous sign that many of the proponents of same-sex marriage are quite willing to violate religious liberty and to use any and all means to silence and punish any individual or organization that holds the contrary view – a view sustained by the voters in 29 states by constitutional amendments.

In standing for religious liberty, we should do so with a gospel mindset. In other words, we should love those who oppose God’s law and seek to reconcile them to God by sharing with them the good news that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of both the hetero and homo sexual kind. Go to Chick-Fil-A today and have a chicken sandwich, but do so knowing that there are angry people out there who oppose what you stand for because they are blinded by sin and need us to show them the love of Christ.

You can read Mohler’s article at CNN by clicking here.

HT: Tim Challies

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