I'm back after a looong hiatus and I'm a little irritated. I read something on Facebook last night as I was trying to sleep and it made me angry. This morning the actual anger has subsided and I am now miffed, if you will. So, my return will be in the form of a political tirade but I promise that they won't all be like this. I do need to get this off of my chest.
So I read an article last night from a friend's facebook page about Chik-fil-a and gay rights. I have read a similar article before, but this one was written by a gay-right's activist and it was filled with hate and anger. What made me more mad is that this was posted for people to "educate" themselves on the issue. This can hardly be called a education and I will explain why. Here is a link to the article before I go on so that you will be familiar with it and my rant will make sense.
http://news.change.org/stories/yes-chick-fil-a-says-we-explicitly-do-not-like-same-sex-couples
Let's begin with the topic of the bias and the concept of fact checking. This article is obviously on a gay-rights website so I expected a definite bias toward that side. I mean, it is a blog after all not a news source. However, the amount of anger and hate spewed in this article was uncalled for. This story was meant to incite anger in people and it clearly did its job when you look at the comments. What makes me mad about this is that people are getting angry about something of which they next to nothing. The use of the words "anti-gay" and the title itself are incorrect with what CFA and the affiliates mentioned in the article said. "Anti-gay" makes it sound like they hate gay people and that is not true. Not only am I familiar with most of these groups, I am also familiar with their stance on gay marriage because I feel the same way (don't pretend to be shocked here). They do not hate gay people, they disagree with their lifestyle on a Biblical basis. As a matter of fact, Focus on the Family was run by Dr. James Dobson who has written in his book Bringing Up Boys that homosexuality is not chosen (pg. 115-116); the only choice is whether to act on it. How many Christian men have you met that actually say that? Most Christians in general would balk at that idea until they thought about it, yet this is the organization that is getting criticized in this article.
In addition, the WINSHAPE foundation is criticized for its policy about homosexual couples at its retreat. First of all, they were very polite to the people inquiring about said policy. Only when pushed were they frank and even so that was a polite response. Also, this is a private foundation that can allow whomever it wants into its retreat. Criticizing them is like saying I'm mad at a counrty club for not letting me in because I don't make enough money or I'm mad at Susan G. Comen for only supporting breast cancer and not lung cancer. That's ridiculous. Find another retreat to go to and get over it.
Along with that note comes the fact that CFA and its franchises are privately owned and operated. They have the right in America to support whomever they choose. They have to right to give money or free food to whichever organization they want and shouldn't have to face opposition because of it. I'm pretty sure we still live in a country that has freedom of religion and speech. Of course sometimes that seems to only apply to religions other than Christianity and people other than Christians. If we offend anyone publicly for saying what our Bible says we have to apologize publicly and do endless amounts of volunteer work for that group before we are forgiven. However, articles like this can be published and passed around and we are supposed to sit there and take it. But back to CFA. Boycott them if you want, but remember you have the liberty to do so just like they have the liberty to support whatever cause they want and its like they are supporting an organzition that is out to kill all gay people. They just disagree with their lifestyle and are expressing that belief by supporting others who feel the same. It's like when I vote, I vote for someone who shares my moral beliefs. Are you going to villianize me for expressing my belief that way too?
Another thing I take issue with is where this person talks about how CFA will take a gay person's money at a restaurant but supports "anti-gay" orgs. They say they respect gay people and apparently, for this person, that doesn't make sense. Well, let me explain it for you. Jesus showed people respect all the time even if he didn't agree with their lifestyle. The Pharisees were the leaders in his day and they desperately hated Jesus. Yet, he never spewed hatred at them. Instead, he strove to teach them logically and compassionately even when they rejected what he said. Even when he was dying a horrific death at their hands, he prayed for them. If this is not respect and love for a person or people, I don't know what is. As Christians, we are to strive to be like Christ and although we often fail (because we are humans) it doesn't mean we don't try. I feel like this is what CFA is trying to do. If they turned away gay people at their restaurants, it would be a great disservice to the name Christian. You can love and respect someone without having to agree with what they are doing. As I have had to do in my own family (and no, it has nothing to do with homosexuality), I have said "I love you but I can't support your decisions." And that is that. I don't know how to make it plainer.
One of my last points is this: Christians get a bad wrap for not being open-minded. This is a load of crap. Yes, there are those out there who are not open-minded but there are those in every group. That's like saying all Muslims are terrorists or all blondes are stupid. It is a gross overstatement and it needs to stop. Just because I don't agree with you, does not make me close-minded. It means I have an opinion and I stand for something. It may not be the same as your opinion but that doesn't make it wrong. As a matter of fact, if you can't accept that then it makes YOU close-minded, not me. People want Christians to be tolerant of others but really that means they want us to lay down and take whatever they want to dish out at us. And I'm sorry but Christ calls us to a higher standard and I care way more about his opinion of me than I do yours. Like I said before, I love people because God loves people; that doesn't mean I have to agree with or like what you do. I only wish this sentiment went both ways.
I just want to make one final point and then I promise I am done. This article is treating CFA and the organizations it supports like they are Westboro Baptist Church. They are not. They do not hold signs outside their establishments that say "God hates fags" or other hateful things. Those people are not Christians in the Biblical sense, whatever they may say. If you will look at the websites of the organizations that have been villianized, you will see no hate. Instead you will see companies that are standing for something they believe in, and they are doing so in a civil way. You may not agree with them and that is fine, but why don't you give them the same courtesy? Tolerance goes both ways my friend. Again, this person did little to no research about the companies he was setting people against and unfortuantely most of those people will just take his word for it. I hope you don't.
And that is all. Whew!
