What Chick-Fil-A reveals about British intolerance and irrationality
It’s a conversation that’s been repeated in a thousand social media feeds – but I suspect not in any real life situations. “Isn’t it wonderful that the hate group Chick-Fil-A have been driven out of the UK” – “What have they done?” – “Oh they hate gays?” “Do you have any evidence of this? ” “Their chairman once spoke out against same-sex marriage and they fund groups who don’t agree with same-sex marriage – like the Salvation Army!”
People share memes and quickly Google ‘evidence’ from their favourite confirmation bias websites – and so the dialogue of the deaf continues.
The satirical site Babylon Bee even had some fun with their article: “Small Island Of Uncultured Savages Rejects America’s Gracious Attempt To Introduce Them To Good Food”.
But although this issue might appear to be a relatively minor importation of America’s culture wars to the UK, it has much more significance than that.
Chick-Fil-A is now America’s third-largest restaurant chain. It had hoped to expand into the UK but when it announced that it’s first permanent site was to be in the Oracle centre in Reading, the militant LGBT groups went into action and, of course, the Oracle Shopping Centre folded and announced it would not be renewing Chick-Fil- A’s lease.
The lessons are clear:
1) We live in an increasingly intolerant society
Firstly the UK has become a profoundly intolerant, politicised society in which a handful of militant groups have the power to ban any who they do not approve of. We are not talking here about boycotting. Everyone has a right to boycott whatever they want.
Personally I have no intention of ever buying Frosties again after Kellogg’s said they were going to create ‘gay’ packets of cereal. But I don’t demand that Kellogg’s be banned or that others don’t have the right to buy what they want.
But the LGBT neo-Puritan militants cannot tolerate the idea that anyone anywhere might be enjoying something they do not approve of. So in the name of toleration, they themselves are not tolerant.
2) We live in a society where there is no forgiveness
It doesn’t matter the good you do; if you do not buy into the ideology and bow down to the new secular gods, you are finished. Chick-Fil-A are a Christian company who pay their workers twice the national average, don’t open on Sundays and have in their mission statement that they want to glorify God. This is too much for those who want to ensure that their ideological view must be imposed upon everyone. Chick-Fil-A must be punished.
3) We live in an inconsistent and hypocritical society
There are many shops in Reading which sell Halal food. Have the Reading LGBT activists been picketing them or suggesting that they close? Or are they unaware of the Islamic teaching on homosexuality and same-sex marriage?
The Chick-Fil-A position on same-sex marriage is the same as that of the Catholic Church, the Orthodox, the Salvation Army, the Church of England and the Evangelicals. Will the Reading LGBT groups be demanding that these groups, or anyone associated with them be banned?
4) We live in a society where the Church has been neutered
When the LGBT activists tell us ‘jump’, our leaders ask, ‘how high’? I find it ironic that in today’s Britain it is gay atheists like Doug Murray who offer a more prophetic critique of the culture, than most church leaders who are either silent, mouth irrelevant truisms, or become the spiritual wing of the secularist militants.
The fact that I, and others, who actually like Chick-Fil-A’s fast food are being prevented from eating it is not the main issue. Nor is the fact that hundreds of well-paid jobs will be prevented from coming to the UK- after all what do middle-class social justice warriors care about real jobs?
And I guess the millions that Chick-Fil-A raise for charity will hardly be missed. But what is most disturbing about all of this is the way that one hard-line minority ideology has so captured the elites of British society, (commerce, media, politics, arts and education), that even a harmless chicken restaurant can be banned to ensure ideological supremacy and purity. You couldn’t make it up. And sadly you don’t need to. In the UK, the lunatics have taken over the asylum. God help us.
David Robertson is director of Third Space in Sydney and blogs at www.theweeflea.com
Paula White’s new book ‘Something Greater’ is revealing, disturbing and depressing
PS. Since writing this post I was given the following significant information: “The Oracle shopping centre is owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority which is a wealth fund managed by the government of the Emirate. LGBT rights are virtually nonexistent in the UAE. Any ideas why the groups that protested the “hate” of Chick-Fil-A have seemed to miss this”. So why are Reading LGBT groups not demanding the closure of the Oracle shopping centre?
I’m an American. I eat Chik-Fil-A a lot. They are one of the very few places to order drive-through food where you can order truly healthy choices that absolutely taste good, and you can know that the service will be friendly every time. It is a marvelous company. They pay and treat their employees well. They serve and give in their communities. I feel good about eating there and giving them my money…which is really saying something given my country’s track record with fast food restaurants in general.
The really horrible irony in all of this is: Back in 2016, the day after the Orlando shooting in an LGBT night club, Chik-Fil-A opened on Sunday. They NEVER open on Sunday, and I’ll bet you this is the only time it ever happened.
They came to work that Sunday and gave away food for all of the people donating blood and all of the first responders on the scene. They fed people and comforted people and prayed with people all day long that Sunday. They loved on everyone there in every way a company possibly could, and they didn’t call the press. They didn’t advertise it in their restaurants. They didn’t talk it up or tell people. It got very little coverage.
Anyway, I hope our brethren in the UK and Ireland figure out how to let Chik-Fil-A into your space over there. It’s a good place. It’s a good company. And they make really good grilled chicken nuggets.
Amen 😇🙏🏼
That good deed doesn’t erase all their negatives.
To be tolerant of all viewpoints is to be tolerant of racism, sexism and other similar viewpoints. Do we really need that in civilized society? Maybe we should ask our Jewish friends their opinions on being tolerant of hate.
The only negative I see is preaching tolerance and then not practicising it. If you can’t see the hypocrisy in that message, then please don’t assume the moral authority or rational thinking to lecture us on what ‘civilised’ society does and doesn’t need.
Nobody is asking anyone to tolerate hate, racism and sexism, But this is a matter of allowing a company to conduct busines according to their faith and beliefs. Just because they do not accept gay-marriage, does not mean they are hateful. and aren[‘t they being inconsistent, intolerant an “hateful” of Chik-Fil-A by forcing the Mall to shut them down? As Mr Robertson pointed out, isn’t the LGBT culture being intolerant of Christians? Does “tolerance” go only one way, or do groups of ALL faiths or non-faiths get EQUAL accessibility? It seems to me the LGBT community is being extremely hypocritical and intolerant, while they “proclaim tolerance”. It is only tolerance for their point of view. For anyone who disagrees with them, they are totally intolerant.
I’m a British American and I concur absolutely. Great food and service and consistent drive through lines. Hopefully Chick Fit A will be given other opportunities in the UK from people with a backbone
The main driver of protests against CfA are that they have donated millions to organisations which promote the death penalty in non western countries and which promote so-called conversion therapy for minors in the US – this is where a gay teenager is subjected to some sort of physical or spoken therapy that aims to increase anxiety around sexuality usually without their consent.
The revived kill the gays law in Uganda was encouraged by an organisation that CfA donated to.
I’d argue that you’d struggle to find many churches in the U.K. that would be openly calling for people to be executed for being attracted to the same sex. I think it’s entirely reasonable for people to protest Western companies using their profits to make the rest of the world a worse place.
CfA hasn’t been driven from the U.K. – the shopping centre has declined them an extension on their lease.
Again – it would be helpful if you got your facts right and didn’t promote lies. Chick-FIl-A do not support the death penalty in non-Western countries (you are aware that the US has the death penalty? Should the Oracle ban all US companies?).. They do not support killing homosexuals. And CFA have been driven from the UK in that their first shop has been closed because of pressure from LGBT groups – I note in passing that these same groups have not demanded the closure of Halal stores (it is largely in Muslim countries that there is the death penalty for homosexuality). It is really sad, that for the sake of your ideology, you are prepared to support this discrimination and intolerance. And next time you write on my blog – please get your facts right and don’t rely on Internet gossip….
It’s almost like you have absolute garbage reading comprehension. They didn’t say Chick-fil-A themselves did it. They just pointed out that the company has donated millions to groups with anti-gay agendas that DO fight for those laws/causes. There Uganda point is not very accurate, but the rest is. That’s easily verifiable, and it seems you yourself have no place to speak on lack of fact-checking or speaking misinformation. It’s pretty embarrassing that you went head on without even trying to check your legitimacy.
Ashley – this will be your last post on my blog. There is no need for rudeness – even worse when it is combined with ignorance. No Chick-Fil-A have not donated millions to groups who fight for the death penalty to be introduced for ‘those laws’causes’. If it is easily verifiable you would have been able to do so. Instead you just repeat ignorant gossip. Time for you to do your own fact checking. And whilst you are at it think about who is a major investor in the Oracle Centre (I assume in your investigations you know who they are)? And then ask why it is ok for the UAE, where the death penalty does exist for homosexuality, to own a centre like the Oracle…and why are you writing in support of them?
And to clarify: I eat and enjoy Chick-fil-A. I appreciate the good they’ve done along with the bad. They sponsored Pride in Orlando afew years back. I think it’d be near impossible to find a company anywhere that puts their foot into politics and religion that you agree with completely. But it’s ironic to see people bitch about other people exercising their freedom to not give their business to places that give their money to organizations that support restricting the freedoms of others. 🤣😂
Ashley – you seem to be missing the point. I assume not deliberately. Noone is ‘bitching about people exercising their freedom to give their business to places…” etc. You don’t have to support Chick-Fil-A. And you don’t have to give your money to them. But do you have the right to prevent others from doing so?
I didn’t say CfA supported the death penalty in other countries. I said they had donated to groups that had and that these donations are the primary driver behind the protests. As you yourself point out lots of British organizations oppose same sex marriage and do not face protests, so it wouldn’t make sense for CfA to be singled out for protest on this basis alone.
I am sorry that you think I am lying about this.
Except they havn’t . And this guilt by secondary and third degree association is ridiculous.
Hello David. I am not sure if it’s possible but if there was a way to like a comment, it would show support for the post without the need to fully respond with a reply. Just a thought. Thanks
Not sure there is!
I fail to see why they have been pressured into closing the store in Reading, I have the right to say if I don’t agree with homosexuality but that doesn’t mean I will try and get it made illegal again. This is unacceptable by lgbt group and is it not the kind of reaction they faught against in getting their right to be openly homosexual
Yes and now they are trying to take our right away from having a different opinion than theirs.
This is the last straw. This is a clear act of anti-christian intolerance, having a company closed because it’s owners are Bible-believing Christians and donate money to the Salvation Army. George Carey warned the government that Christians are being marginalised when David Cameron was the Prime Minister but Cameron was too busy appealing to the middle-class secular liberals to pay any attention. I am so sick of our bankrupt society. Secularism has given us a society which has emphasised social liberalism to the expense of personal responsibility and so many sexual, moral and health problems have resulted and yet these people are too self-righteous to notice it and would instead harass companies and individuals for not agreeing with them.
What are the “sexual, moral and health” problems caused by social liberalism?
Too numerous to mention!
If the company was protested because they are Christian then why has no other company been protested for being Christian eg ToyMaster?
You expect liberal progressives to be consistent?!
Great response, Amy! However, I would like to give a slight correction/addition to it. I thought I had heard of other occasions besides the nightclub shooting when Chick-fil-A had opened on Sundays, and I found an article from Lifeway (link below) that lists 3 other times in addition to the nightclub shooting:
(1) Hurricane Florence, 2018 — “On Sunday, Sept. 16, they prepared and donated 500 sandwiches and 1,200 nuggets to rescue teams from five states and evacuees at three local shelters.”
(2) Atlanta, Georgia, 2017 — On December 17, a power outage at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport caused thousands of people to be stranded. “Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed made an emergency phone call—to Chick-fil-A.” The employees
“delivered free food to an emergency operations center to be distributed to passengers stuck in the world’s busiest airport.”
(3) December 27, 2015 — Tornadoes struck in North Texas near Dallas, and Chick-Fil-A provided food to tornado victims and first responders.
Chick-fil-A dishes up more than great food and great service. As a corporation, they also live out the example of the Good Samaritan.
(https://factsandtrends.net/2018/09/19/4-times-chick-fil-a-has-opened-on-sunday/)
I live in Spokane, Washington. Please Chick Fil-A, why won’t you open in Spokane? I want some.
An interesting footnote to this is the reply given by Benjamin Cohen, CEO of PinkNews Media Group,to this question from Nick Ferrari in a LBC interview on 23 October:
Why can you show no tolerance to a fast food chain?
Answer:
I don’t think I need to show tolerance.
An extraordinary and chilling response!
I’m interested why you think gay people should show tolerance to people who dont tolerate them?
I’m interested in why you feel it necessary to lie. In that one short sentence you managed to tell two…please try to restrict your comment to truth…
I will be making the journey to Berkshire in the near future to support Chick-fil-A.
And I am not going alone!
Meanwhile,the Babylon Bee imparts some truths in satire –
https://babylonbee.com/news/saudi-arabia-closes-down-new-chick-fil-a-location-for-disappointing-lack-of-homophobia
I hope that McDonald’s does not suffer from the fact that the widow of Ray Kroc donated US$1.6 billion to the Salvation Army . Mrs Joan Kroc died of brain cancer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc
David, as it happened, I read Douglas Murray’s article before I read yours.
“Confirming what some of us had been worrying about for a while: which is that tolerance is becoming a one-way street and the street is global” (Spectator 26th Oct.)
I have moved from feeling despondent to actually feeling very angry. How dare these people impose their own bigoted, vengeful, dogmatic intolerant ideology on the rest of us. And all in the name of tolerance! (Sick joke). Do they not realise that a time will come when the worm will turn, and people will refuse to go along with their self-righteous, virtue-signalling nonsense.
The trouble is, as Murray points out in his latest book, The Madness of Crowds, is that these ideologies of “the great awokening” are inherently unstable and frequently self-contradictory. You cannot construct a meaningful, stable society based on these non-values.
There are a number of sensible journalists and commentators who challenge this, but woke is now so deeply ingrained in many (? all) of our institutions that it becomes increasingly hard to challenge this. Witness the Muslim parents protesting outside the school in Birmingham about the values being taught to their children by government diktat which contradict their own values.
What to do? I don’t know.
Either you are being deliberately disingenuous or you haven’t done your research.
This isn’t about being anti gay. It’s about a company that has a track record of bigotry, giving funding to groups that provide and support conversion therapy, and insist their own staff are not LGBT, and abstain from sex before marriage. All of which is illegal in the UK.
You are correct, this is about intolerance, theirs.
The Entertainer is a company with a strong Christian ethos and they have no trouble operating in the UK, because they are true Christians and are respected for it
Either do proper research or stop deliberately misrepresenting facts, ie lying. I was taught that to be a good Christian I had to be neither a liar nor to cast the first stone. It would appear, pastor, that you need to remember to be a better Christian.
Yes – I’ve done my research. The complaint is that they are anti-gay because they are opposed to SSM. I’m afraid that you are the one who has not done their research. Chick-Fil-A do not insist that their staff are not LGBT or that they abstain from sex before marriage. (How would they enforce that one). It is beyond irony that in a post which complains about lying – you tell lies. Hypocrisy par excellence…
I didn’t know that abstaining from sex before marriage was illegal in the UK.
I just want to clarify a point because it was a little bit ambiguous in your statement.
Conversion therapy is still legal, even for minors, in the UK. The government has been promising to ban it for the last five years, but so far hasn’t done so.
I really have to laugh at statements like these “and insist their own staff are not LGBT, and abstain from sex before marriage. ”
I’m sure they don’t but if we hadn’t got to such a ridiculous state where someone’s sexuality or sexual preferences has to be worn like a badge in the workplace, then why would this even need to be a thing?
Why do we need LGBT, Trans or even straight groups within the workplace? Why does what people do outside of work need to have any bearing or relevance on their work? I’m afraid it’s another example of people screaming for inclusion in every facet of their lives whilst taking every opportunity to differentiate themselves from everyone else in every facet of their lives.
Some people it seems just can’t be employees, they need to be ‘enter intersectional category here’ employees.
This is nothing but factual. Neo- nazi LGBTQ strikes again! They seriously need to be stripped from their ideas because it’s all made up and based off hate. It’s evident. It’s either you’re with them or not. Freemasonry has to stop as well, these 2 groups work together all for money. Just like a satanist, all about money. Food for thought.
Astute observations David, I wonder if it has been brought to your attention regarding Grace Church Larbert in Falkirk where a particularly unpleasant hate campaign has been implemented in an effort to stop planning permission for effectively this reason again, some supporters of the group have even suggested similar tactics should be used on the church. I know it’s regarding the IPC, but it’s got to the point where the Church are being described as “rats” and “having no morals”. Prayers for us in the IPC would be appreciated.
Yes – I wrote to the Scottish government about this discrimination and made a submission to the Council. Have not heard a thing back. Prayers and action are required.
Thank you!!! An honest review. This article is very much appreciated and its welcome in my news feeds. I agree with your main points fully. Glad to see someone with INTEGRITY speaking truth.
Hi David, I respond to your post this morning via my phone—and thus I fear my comment fell into a spam bucket or was simply lost.
I’ll just suffice it to say that I thank you for your post.
Being born and raised in Atlanta, Chick-fil-A has been a part of my fabric since I was young.
It has always been known for offering quality food by employees who truly seem to enjoy being at work and being a part of a team that reaches wider than just their single store.
I always admired Truett Cathy and my admiration continues to his sons as they continue to operate the business according to their dad’s wishes and work ethic.
Chick-fil-A always is one of the first businesses in a community that steps in and up to offer support from anything from as simple as a spirit night for a local school’s football team to offering aid in the midst of a community crisis.
They live by the rule of kindness and benevolence and that extends to all people regardless of beliefs.
Yes theirs is a business that is rooted in Chrisitan values and yes, that does mean that things such as marriage is viewed as a sacred union between a man and a woman…along with other foundational tenents.
But that does not lead to discrimination or ill-treatment of others—quite the contrary. Kindness and benevolence extends to all.
So it is very troubling when the PC police, in this case that being the UK PC police, have deemed what they fail to tolerate as intolerable.
Such an utter and blatant demonstration of hypocrisy.
Truett Cathy chose to build a business by honoring his heavenly Father—who has, in turn, blessed that business. He would tell us that the Bible was his “play” book—the book he used as a guide in both life and business.
And so now a culture has decided that since they do not like that particular creed of a particular individual, both he and the fruits of his labor may not be enjoyed by others.
The truth is that God’s word cannot nor will not be bent to suit man’s whims and his various golden calves.
And blessedly there are still wise men out there who know this.
I am sorry the UK will miss those rather illiterate cows continue to prosper as they dare not bend to man’s will!
A branch has just opened at McDonald Hotel Aviemore – I was there last week!
I dont see why lgbt people should not be allowed to protest a company whose values or behaviour they disagree with.
If you go to any LGBT event you will see angry protesters. Someone even raised the continued picketing of a primary school in W Midlands.
If it is ok to protest LGBT events why is it not OK to protest companies that oppose LGBT rights?
Of course it is ok to protest – although completely hypocritical to protest a company that does not support SSM and not protest companies that are funded by nations that kill homosexuals…. But protesting is one thing…banning and restricting the freedom of others is another.
I hope Chick-Fil-A manages to get a foothold in the UK soon!
….meanwhile, it’s probably time to stop referring to “culture wars” as if exclusively, or even mainly, American.
So you don’t believe in a free market? That’s what you’re telling us with this article.
No – that;s not what I’m telling you. Read the article again – It’s because I believe in a ‘free market’ that I don’t think activist groups have the right to limit that market. You seem to believe in a mob market.
As a suggestion. Maybe do a follow up post and ask a spokesperson from Chick-Fil-A to go on record about their employment and donation policies?
Clear up a lot of misunderstandings I’m sure.
The situation is also the product of far too many people, Christians and others, ducking their heads down and being silent, thus allowing those with their own agenda to dominate public discussion.