The recent controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A has drawn attention to a growing inequality and double standard in the treatment of Christianity and Islam by some leaders in our nation.
The fast food chain based in Atlanta, Georgia has been under attack from gay and lesbian groups because of its support of traditional marriage – marriage defined as being between a man and a woman. Earlier this month, The Biblical Recorder, the news journal for NC Baptists, published an interview with Dan Cathy, president and chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A about the chain and its commitment to operating on biblical principles. In the interview when asked about the company’s support of the traditional family, Cathy replied, “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit.”
This interview began a new series of attacks against the company by gay and lesbian groups. In addition the restaurant chain met with harsh criticism from the mayors of two major cities.
Boston mayor Thomas Menino wrote a letter to Dan Cathy expressing his support of same sex marriage and urging the company to “back out of your plans to locate to Boston…There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.” A copy of the letter can be viewed on The City of Boston’s Facebook page.
When asked in a television interview if he would tell the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts that they are not welcome because of their stance on gay marriage, the mayor replied, “They are not funding an organization who are anti-gay…. It’s a different story.”
The Mayor of Boston, however, does have a history of funding an organization that is anti-gay with taxpayer money. It seems Mayor Menino sold city property valued at $2 million to the Islamic Society of Boston for $175,000 to build their mosque. This particular mosque has a history of being tied with extremists including Yusuf al Qaradawi who according to Reuters called for the murder of homosexuals.
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel also criticized Chick-Fil-A saying, “If you’re going to be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values.” Interestingly, Mayor Emanuel welcomed help for the Chicago community from Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader without questioning Farrakhan’s values.
For the last two Mondays, a group of men known as the Fruit of Islam were led by Farrakhan to form a human wall of protection in violence plagued Chicago neighborhoods. In addition, Mayor Emanuel backed an Alderman’s call to block the construction of a Chick-fil-A in Chicago, but the city recently allowed the Nation of Islam to reopen the Salaam Restaurant that “springs from the mission of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.”
Although the Nation of Islam teachings do not completely align with traditional Islamic teachings, Farrakhan has often expressed his views regarding homosexuality. He has said, “God don’t like men coming to men with lust in their hearts like you should go to a female. If you think that the kingdom of God is going to be filled up with that kind of degenerate crap, you’re out of your d— mind.”
Traditional Islamic teachings are a quite a bit harsher. The Reliance of the Traveller says, “The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:
(1) “Kill the one who sodomizes and the one who lets it be done to him.”
(2) “May Allah curse him who does what Lot’s people did.”
(3) “Lesbianism by women is adultery between them.”
The hypocrisy of those who criticize a Christian for a view that they may not agree with yet all the while advancing the agenda of Islam in their cities either reveals an ignorance of the teachings of Islam which is unlikely in both the cases presented above or a willful blind eye to truth.
PRAY FOR BUSINESS:
- Pray that businesses like Chick-fil-A will continue to have the right to stand up for biblical principles without government imposed economic reprisals.
- Pray that the gay and lesbian community will realize that true Christians do not hate them or demand their execution, they simply do not agree with their lifestyle.
- Pray for Muslims to see the differences between their harsh god that requires submission without question and the God of the Christians full of mercy and grace.
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