Chick-fil-A (again)

Well, I actually got a happy bit of news today: Chick-fil-A agrees to stop funding anti-gay organizations. To me, this is great news, and having started my personal boycott on my own terms, I am now ending it on my own terms, assuming they don't do something else to piss me off. Dan Cathy, that means no more attaching your God's name to your homophobic sentiments. Also, it of course means keeping true to the agreement of no longer passing our money on to anti-gay groups. I won't begrudge people of their rights to their personal beliefs... but I do expect them to return the favor. I'll respect their beliefs as much as they respect everyone else's, and talking about God's judgement if you're anyone other than God is disrespectful. Be honest and identify it as your own judgement. I know, it lacks the convenient excuse of passing your prejudice on to a higher power, thereby avoiding responsibility... but if you actually believe in any god, one would think you'd be afraid to take it upon yourself to speak for Him.

As one might guess, some of the more fundamentalist Christians (probably the same ones who went in and said, "I support your company, because your company hates the gays") are pissed. Take a look at their Facebook page: Chick-fil-A on Facebook. The same Christians who were saying the boycott was childish and anti-capitalism are now talking about doing their own boycott.

Me, I don't care about whether the motive for the change of heart was a financial or moral one. First of all, I think it was the right choice. While I doubt Dan Cathy's personal views have changed, he's realized that people who disagree with him matter, too. This move demonstrates that fact. Next, bear in mind that not everyone who works for Chick-fil-A has shared his views. He doesn't speak for them - he's buying their time, not their souls.

Anyway, to show my support for their change in policy, I happily went over to one of their restaurants and had a couple sandwiches. I did miss that tasty food!

Chick-Fil-A Doesn't Speak for its Employees

I linked this in the comments of my previous post, but I think that it may be worthy of its own follow-up post. The Chick-Fil-A anti-gay controversy is taking its toll on employees who don't necessarily agree with Cathy's stance.

According to the article, one of the biggest things that's hurting them is comments from their "supporters" today. I had vaguely anticipated this. When you put on a company's uniform, as far as most people are concerned, you ARE that company, not an individual who may or may not agree with the company's stance on any number of issues. It's also unfortunate that this issue goes both ways - those against Chick-Fil-A are also forgetting that those wearing the uniforms are individuals with their own opinions and are taking out their anger toward Dan Cathy on the employees.

Having worked for companies that I had little or no respect for, I searched on Google for stories about Chick-Fil-A employees that were more than a little disturbed by the comments of "support" they would likely be getting today, being Chick-Fil-A appreciation day. It didn't take long to find that above article. While Chick-Fil-A and its supporters may be considering today a huge success, I think there are many who would see things differently. It further polarized the sides. It made many of those who were trying to stay neutral pick a side. When you hear your "supporters" happily and unknowingly bashing yourself and/or your friends on the individual level, it does take a big toll. So, was this really a success for Chick-Fil-A? I kind of doubt it. Comparing this to a battle, the officers just pissed all over their infantry.

Chick-Fil-A Anti-Gay?

I feel compelled to apologize for such a cliche headline that I'm sure has been used by mediocre journalists across the nation, but at the same time don't feel inclined to do so. At any rate, I figured I'd throw my two cents' worth in.

I like Chick-Fil-A - their food is frickin' awesome! Especially their spicy chicken deluxe with pepper jack cheese. They make great food, and I don't even care about their deeply religious roots. They are entitled to them. It is their right.

I'm already missing them. Chick-Fil-A's Dan Cathy: "Guilty as charged." Don't you just love the bit about Adam and Steve? Nice touch.

Yes, despite my own stances on religion, I didn't mind the fact that I was eating from a restaurant that's never made any secret of its deeply Christian roots. Those spicy chicken sandwiches never made me burst into flames, and I'm not sure I'd mind if they did. Spicy food is good!

But, here's the problem - the money I've been giving them to enjoy those sandwiches has been used against my gay friends. Not cool by me. My stance on the issue of gays and same-sex marriage is that it's really no different from the civil rights stuff from about fifty years ago, and similarly, kids thirty years from now will be thinking that the anti-gay people are a bunch of assholes as they learn about them in school.

Gays as a whole do nothing to harm society. They are, on the whole, decent people - the same as anyone else. They have hearts, they have brains. They experience the same emotions as the rest of us, just that they're more attracted to the same sex instead of the opposite sex. Not a big deal. And going by a strict interpretation of the Constitution, we have no business denying them the same rights. The only arguments against gays are based in religion, and the Constitution makes it pretty clear that the church doesn't have business legislating for the state.

The problem with so many of the more vocal modern Christians is that they preach every part of the Bible, except for the teachings of Jesus. You know, that long-haired hippie that talked about peace and compassion? The one whom Christianity is named for? Yeah, that guy... who, coincidentally, didn't say a damned thing about gays. Or any number of other issues that false prophets are attaching his name to.

People seem to have a convenient memory when it comes to religion. The same part of the Bible that forbids homosexuality also forbids tattoos, eating pork or playing with the flesh of a dead pig (so much for tossing around the ol' pigskin, huh?), eating shellfish, and condones slavery and blood sacrifice. Perhaps these "God-fearing" Christians have good reason to fear their god - they preach hate in his name. I'd consider that a pretty serious insult.

At any rate, Chick-Fil-A and its supporters now are complaining about the "hateful" attempts to suppress their free speech. Here's the thing about free speech: it goes both ways. You have the right to be an idiot, and I have the right to call you an idiot. If a business is financing ideals that we don't agree with, then we have a right to withhold our money from said business, and advocating for others to do the same. So that being said, I support the boycotts and same-sex kiss-in's.

Almost forgot - here's a meme thing to re-post on facebook or whatever:

To repost the image, you can right-click it, click "view image," and copy and paste the URL to facebook or whatever it is you young'uns use these days. You can also copy it to your own photo albums, but the former is preferred, as it'll help me get more exposure.

Religion

With the posts I've done, some might think I'm anti-religion as a whole. While this may appeal to many, it's not the truth. I do in fact believe quite strongly in a religion. I'll flatter myself by assuming some are now scratching their heads and saying, "but Raven, you're too smart to be religious!" First of all, let's not assume that having religion means being stupid. How it goes for me is this:

• I believe that there is a higher power. Seeing as I've never met this higher power, I don't know its name - just that I feel its presence on some level.
• I decided naming this higher power may help. "Bob" somehow didn't seem appropriate, and the atheists' suggestion of "Flying Spaghetti Monster" didn't seem to fit, either. I don't want to think of my higher power as being a tasty treat, and if it was, it would be a pizza... with pepperoni, green chile, and artichoke hearts.
• I researched the different religions. I knew more or less immediately that my choice would not be Christianity. I was raised as a Christian, and it didn't feel right to me.
• When I found one that seemed to match my beliefs and my conscience fairly well, I adopted it.

This approach may seem arrogant to some - "a religion tells you what morals to have, not the other way around!" Again, seeing as there are no deities here to say otherwise, I believe that our gods (or at least the ones we should listen to) speak to us through our conscience, if we choose to listen. If I'm wrong, oh well. I guess you could say that ultimately, my conscience is my higher power. But it's somehow more pleasant and fun to assign a mythology to it.

And it's harmless. I don't force my religion on other people. I'm pretty content in my own way of living and beliefs.

This isn't to say I hate Christianity as a whole, it simply didn't work for me. The ones I actively dislike are the ones who do hurt and/or harass others. My problems with Christianity are mostly its use of scare tactics and its resistance to change, whether it be philosophical or scientific. Some seem to focus more on the fear of Hell than they do the message of love. Which one is it?

Boycott Starbucks?

This just in: if you love everyone equally, you hate god. Oh, and Jesus loves you, even if he does command everyone else in the world to hate you.

Call for a Christian boycott vs Starbucks.

You know, I don't really drink much coffee in general. I don't dislike it, just that I like other things better. After reading the above article, I'm inclined to join the hipsters, albeit reluctantly, at Starbucks more often. S'pose I'd fit right in, writing and blogging on my laptop while listening to my under-rated/obscure/outdated music. Scary thought.

You know what else? I've read through much of the Bible, and while I have a fair to decent memory, I don't remember who Jesus said to hate. Did he say to hate anyone?

No?

Then golly gee, I guess that means that people are making some shit up, then using Jesus' name to justify their own hate and prejudice.

I am not ignorant to the fact that the Bible is unkind toward homosexuality. However, it seems Christians have become perfectly well acclimated to picking and choosing what parts they want to follow. I suppose it makes sense, considering that the Bible is rather well known for its contradictions. Anyway, I'd equate worship of the Bible (to include believing its word as infallible) with idol worship. Otherwise, Christians would shun pork, along with shrimp, lobster, cheeseburgers - anything not allowed in the Jewish/Muslim diets. Not only that, but there would be public stonings (and I don't mean smoking pot in public) and the like for any variety of behaviors which is commonplace in the modern world. Even amongst evangelicals. Does anyone remember what the Bible says to do with false prophets?

This reminds me much of the Southern Baptists and their boycott of Disney. I'm not sure too many people even noticed, once the news reports died down. Then just a few years ago, after just about everyone had forgotten about the "boycott" anyway, they announced the end of the boycott, calling it a victory and saying they had made their point. How many people, other than Southern Baptists, even take the Southern Baptists seriously now?

Anyway, it always pisses me off to see people spreading hate in the name of their religion. I see it as arrogant, and were I more religious, I would call them false prophets, as they claim to speak for their god.

But I will say this now: even if extremists are right, I would rather burn in Hell with a clean conscience than serve a hateful god.