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02

Aug

Chick Fil-A’s Pseudoreligiosity

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Ok, it’s been a while since my last post, and maybe you thought I got murdered in LA (I didn’t - or perhaps this is a Ghost Writer????).  I had heretofore given up on Cheese Sandwich, because I thought I had said everything I needed to be said regarding vegetarian dining in a meat world.  Then Chick Fil-A President Dan Cathy decided to come out and say he believes in a traditional view of marriage, based upon the bible.

I am in favor of gay rights, but I do feel that businesses should be allowed to run as they wish.  If a business wants to be racist or homophobic, that’s their choice. My blog has been trying to point out which restaurants are vegetarian/vegan friendly that vegetarians wouldn’t normally go to.  Rather than shaming businesses that are anti-vegetarian, I’d rather praise those that are pro-vegetarian.

I’ve gotten in many arguments with friends that say “Why do you expect steak houses to cater to vegetarians?” or “Just go to vegetarian restaurants!”.  But after looking at the outrage against Dan Cathy’s comments, it’s a good time to underline the apartheid of the food service industry.  At the majority of restaurants in America, vegetarians are unwelcome.  We have to live in ghettos of other vegetarians and vegans until someone with some business sense decides to make a “vegetarian restaurant”, which will serve food for vegetarians.

Meanwhile, places like Chick Fil-A serve nothing but chicken products and chicken-laced products.  Even their salads all have chicken as an ingredient.  For a company that claims to follow the Bible, they really pick and choose which practices they follow.  According to Romans 14:13 -

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.

Which, combined with Acts 15:20 -

Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

And I Corinthians 8:13 -

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

Lays a pretty clear picture that it is your duty as a Christian to look after your brother should they not wish to eat meat for religious purposes (or even for any purpose).  Yet Chick Fil-A has no option for vegetarians to eat.  We could scramble a side salad and carrot and raisin salad into a meal, but that is really the minimum they could do.

I’ve long held the belief that you can always tell how good a restaurant is based upon how they cater to vegetarians.  It’s like the old Malcom Forbes quote:

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

Based upon the way Chick Fil-A treats vegetarians, it’s not really surprising that they are anti-gay marriage.  To argue that their views are defended in the Bible just smacks of hypocrisy and pseudoreligiosity.