Yesterday, Chick-Fil-A announced that their 2020 charitable donations would be shifted to organizations that match the causes they want to support. The company wants to put a greater focus on giving aid to charities that help children with education, homelessness, and hunger. A noble goal, to be sure.
Of course, the unspoken message is that, after years of controversy for their association with anti-LGBT beliefs and organizations, they will stop donating to organizations that are seen as intolerant for their stance on the issue of gender and sexuality. Specifically, this means they are breaking ties with the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Unsurprisingly, sections of Christian social media have exploded with rage. Before we get swept up on online arguments and a barrage of clicking the “share” button, let’s pause and consider a few points.[
Is this really about the LGBT agenda?
The infamous company has been waging an uphill battle to sell chicken sandwiches to a culture that can’t see beyond statements from the company’s owner, as well as their association with the controversial organizations they’re breaking away from. More recently they were stopped from opening restaurants in airports due to their political stances, and their first restaurant in the UK already declared the food chain would not see any more openings for the same reason.
Thus, the first line of the company’s announcement is very telling:
“Starting in 2020, the Chick-fil-A Foundation is introducing a more focused giving approach to provide additional clarity and impact with the causes it supports.”
The term “clarity” appears later in the announcement as well. What does that vague terminology mean? After all, weren’t they already supporting the homeless through the efforts of the Salvation Army and supporting inner-city children through the FCA?
Yes, but what needs to be clarified is that Chick-Fil-A, as an organization, doesn’t set out to financially support the traditional view of marriage, gender, and sexuality. They need to distance themselves from the controversy that is killing their bottom line, and this new initiative will help clarify where they stand on the issue.
This is further reflected with a later statement:
“Additionally, the Foundation will no longer make multiyear commitments and will reassess its philanthropic partnerships annually to allow maximum impact. These partners could include faith-based and non-faith-based charities.”
In other words, they will be taking a cautious approach to who they support and reassess a charitable organization’s impact on Chick-Fil-A’s corporate image. Should an organization start sharing controversial views, the company can now safely break ties fairly quickly.
However, this shouldn’t surprise us because…
Christ didn’t die for Chick-Fil-A
There’s a definite temptation to feel as though Chick-Fil-A has abandoned the faith. They’ve compromised their beliefs and how they interpret the Bible, bending the knee to popular culture instead of standing strong for Christian values. We mourn Chick-Fil-A the same way we mourn so many fallen brothers and sisters in Christ.
However, Chick-Fil-A isn’t a Christian. Jesus Christ didn’t die so a chain of sandwich restaurants could find undeserved mercy before a just and holy God. They haven’t sinned because they aren’t a person.
We must keep in mind that a business owes us no loyalty, nor do we owe them any. A restaurant exists to make money, not social statements. This is not only true of businesses, but even schools or an entire country. All large bodies run by multiple people will, inevitably, promote those things that are politically beneficial to promote.
We have seen throughout all of history that an entity can only stand against popular culture for so long. As beliefs shift more and more in a new direction, groups like Chick-Fil-A start facing a choice: Either fold under the continuing loss of support or move your political stance just far enough to regain some lost favor.
As a business, whose primary goal is to make money, Chick-Fil-A made the decision that shouldn’t surprise anyone. They did what a business must do to survive – they adapted to gain new customers.
Christ has lost nothing and His mission remains
Because a business doesn’t represent Christianity, we should have no thoughts of them saving or dooming us. Although the political left is cautiously celebrating a potential victory, we must remember that Christ isn’t wringing His hands in worry and anticipation as the secular culture claims another of His chess pieces.
Christ has never been in the business of politics. Today, as ever, He calls us as individuals who are saved by grace to hold firmly to truth and reject the worldview of those who must necessarily hate God. Truth hasn’t changed, but rather we see the importance of knowing why we believe what we believe.
Just as a business cannot become a child of God, we must remember that we cannot try to “save” our culture. A changing culture is simply a reflection of the collective beliefs of individuals. Although we have the responsibility to use whatever means our country gives us to promote the things of God, we need to remember that God is after those individuals who choose to be His enemies, not a faceless business or culture without a soul to save.
Should we boycott?
Chick-Fil-A didn’t get where it is by making poor business decisions. This recent news was certainly not a knee-jerk reaction to falling profits or a sudden realization that their growth could start to plateau. There’s little doubt that this decision has been months, possibly years, in the making.
Why does that matter? Because they are willing to let their customers get angry and fill their social media with declarations of “I’ll never eat there again!” They know people will call for boycotts, yet highly-paid number crunchers are convinced that it’s still a smart business decision. And they likely reached that decision based on what happened to every other business who made Christians boycott them.
Let’s be honest, boycotting is a bit of a joke to the corporate world. Our ability to easily share our thoughts with hundreds of people doesn’t create greater change, but instead makes us live in a completely reactionary state. “I don’t like this, I’m going to let people know right away! Look, a news article that justifies my anger. Share!”
But Chick-Fil-A, like all businesses before them, know people will stop reacting. Our emotions cool because we stop being fed reasons to be outraged. Websites stop creating click-bait articles that prompt us to share because those websites are a business that needs to move on to the next thing that outrages people.
Every day we learn of a dozen new injustices and are more than happy to yell about it. Yet if we’re honest, it doesn’t matter how heinous the crime is, even if it’s rape or murder, because we quickly stop caring. Scroll through anyone’s social media feed and take note of all those news stories we’ve all forgotten. We are so bombarded with the horror of our world’s depravity that we’ve become numb to it.
Boycotting is a joke because it’s a fad. Chick-Fil-A knows that those people who forget about a school shooting in two days won’t have the energy to resist their chicken sandwiches for long. They may lose a few people forever, but the positive gains more than justify any minimal risk from boycotts and social-media protests.
Make no mistake, as Christians we need to allow our consciences to be obedient to the Holy Spirit. If we feel Him making us restless and uncomfortable at the thought of supporting a company, we must listen to that. However, it’s important that we take a pause, be realistic, and be ready to stand by our convictions. Otherwise, giving up on our boycotts and outrage is no different than an entire company going back on what they once supported.
Our Christian response
In the end, the Chick-Fil-A news does little to impact us. It’s certainly unfortunate that the individual Christians who were making decisions have either given up or been muscled out, but that’s always the inevitable price of success in a world that hates God.
However we choose to react in the next few days, let us do so with slowness, humility, and wisdom. Let’s keep in mind that Christ is no less sovereign when situations like this occur. Christianity isn’t suddenly losing, nor does the world somehow hate God even more than it has for thousands of years.
Most importantly, let this news help us realize the importance of actively owning our faith. We must know why we believe what we believe and be ready to defend it with more than emotion and hostility. If God is our source of truth, then we must love and seek truth with more fierceness and intensity as we see how desperately people need Christ.
Today, as always, our mission is to serve Christ. As the world drifts even farther away from the basics of Christian values, we are given an even greater opportunity to show how dark and broken the world is when held up next to the glorious perfection of Jesus Christ.
