Our Family

I know most of my posts are pretty light and kid-centric, but something has been on my mind today.

Recently, Chik-Fil-A's owner came out about his personal views supporting Biblical marriage. He was not discriminatory, nor bigoted. He just gave his opinion. (An opinion, which, by the way, supports the legal definition of marriage in just about every state in the country).

He and his restaurant have been raked over the coals for this in particular this past week since his interview (by a Christian news source) is gaining attention.

None of the backlash surprised me in any way. None of the Facebook posts by friends who take the opposite view really bothered me (it's expected and they are entitled to their opinion). And even the kerfuffle among celebrities didn't bother me (I don't care a bit about what folks in Hollywood think).

What put a pit in my stomach was this:
A news story with elected government officials vowing to prevent this restaurant from opening in their cities by denying zoning licenses and permits.

It is one thing for individuals to have their opinions or even to refuse to support a particular company because of their stances on issues. I do it myself. I can choose to not let my dollars support a company who I suspect might make use of them to uphold a culture of death.

But for a public official to make promises and attempts to shut down a group not because they did something he disagrees with, but because they think something he disagrees with is about as Orwellian as you can get.

Does Chik-Fil-A refuse service to people simply because they are homosexual? Do they spit in their food because they wear a rainbow bracelet or have a certain walk or talk? Taking a stance on an issue is not the same as not showing dignity to every person who comes in. Of course homosexuals deserve to be treated with love and dignity and anything otherwise would be wrong and should be admonished.

But is that what is happening here? No, a person is disagreeing with a behavior and advocates for a different type of behavior. And for that they should be bullied out?

Now, certain groups are staging protests most likely designed to antagonize the restaurant managers into something that could be called discriminatory undoubtedly in an effort to justify legal action coming down against the restaurant.

But aren't all people expected to follow some behavior code in public spaces and isn't it a right of store owners to ask anyone who doesn't comply to ask them to leave for the common good?

If I went to a family restaurant and put on inappropriate displays of affection, it wouldn't be because of discrimination of my lifestyle that got me booted out. It's because of my actions at the moment. That right is given to any business owner.

So, yes. This thought-policing by public officials is frightening because on that premise alone: unless you agree in your personal opinions with the governing authority, you cannot operate in this city is scary. Can you imagine if a Christian mayor publicly promised to frustrate the normal process for opening a business in the city because the owner of the corporation of that business (not even necessarily that branch) disagreed with him? Outright pandamonium and you know the charge of not separating church from state would be the one most loudly shouted.

So because these public leaders either don't practice a religion (or don't practice it well) or because their interpretation of whatever their religious beliefs are is different from Dan Cathy's means that they can stonewall people who have different beliefs? Unbelievable.

A Final Thought
So what about Planned Parenthood, you might ask. I suppose you (all 10 of my readers) want to know if I were in charge of granting business licenses or zoning and I had the ability to stop them from opening up their abortion mills if I wouldn't take that opportunity to do so?

Two Thoughts:

1). Planned Parenthood doesn't just believe in abortion. It performs abortions. It refers for abortions, it hands out abortive medicines like candy. Chick-Fil-A makes chicken sandwiches. So its private thoughts about gay marriage are not essential to their business. You can have Chik-Fil-A without the opinions of their owner, but you can't have Planned Parenthood without abortion.

2). In the business of legalizing abortion, no one has ever stopped to answer the question: When does a human being come into existence. Barack Obama sloughed off that answer before he became president as many have done before him. But the problem is that this isn't one answer to many difficult questions in dealing with unwanted pregnancy: it is the answer to the only question that really matters. If it's not a human being, there should be no more need to legislate its destiny any more than legislating a woman's monthly cycle. If it is a human being, then it deserves the fullest protection of the law. No one is bothering to answer that question. They just tuck it away inside some clause about a right to privacy as if the woman's desire for it to be a child alone somehow confers upon it its humanity. If she wants it, it is a baby, if she doesn't, it's not. What's at stake there, then, in being on the wrong side of the abortion issue as opposed to gay marriage is not just a matter of tax breaks or hospital visits, it's a matter of killing a human being.

Writing on the Wall
If supporting gay marriage is a criteria for getting a business license or permit in the future, we've seen the goal of the aggressive gay marriage agenda come to fruition: not just that I want you to not hinder my lifestyle, but I want you to like my lifestyle and if you don't I want you gone. It's bullying and strong-arming and that's where we are. The most vocal of this ilk are not about equal rights, it's about their rights alone by the suppression of the opposing view. They want to pummel the opposing view into the ground.

So today, I bought a chicken sandwich, sweet tea and waffle fries in support of someone with the courage to speak his mind, even if that makes one unpopular or causes him to lose money. Thank you, Dan Cathy, and you can count on me to Eat More Chikin.

Remember this:

So I decided to try the same thing with Molly.

(Also, I don't always dress my daughter. Hey, it's hot and when she sleeps she gets wrapped up in a blanket. No, this is NOT a hint that she needs more clothes).

Back to Molly.