{"id":13173,"date":"2025-12-21T09:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T09:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=13173"},"modified":"2025-12-21T09:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T09:33:17","slug":"in-mind-boggling-decision-defiant-chick-fil-a-moves-to-left-of-corporate-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=13173","title":{"rendered":"In mind-boggling decision, defiant Chick-fil-A moves to left of corporate America"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Reading Time:<\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(AMERICAN FAMILY NEWS) \u2013 It\u2019s one thing to catch a local Chick-fil-A rebelling against Christian values \u2014 and quite another for headquarters to defend it. After this month\u2019s\u00a0revelation\u00a0that an Orem, Utah location was publicly supporting same-sex marriage in a congratulatory post on Facebook (a post that\u2019s still there), several disappointed customers reached out to corporate, hoping for an apology \u2014 or at least clarity \u2014 on what they saw as a public departure from the chain\u2019s longtime beliefs. What they got instead was further confirmation that the Cathys\u2019 beloved empire has lost its way.\n<\/p>\n

Connect with\u00a0<\/span>o<\/span>thers in your\u00a0<\/span>s<\/span>tate in\u00a0<\/span>p<\/span>rayer<\/span>.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to an LGBT magazine in Salt Lake City, people who\u2019ve complained about the post have gotten the following response:\n<\/p>\n

Thank you for contacting Chick-fil-A CARES.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

Chick-fil-A embraces all people, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

Chick-fil-A, Inc. is committed to being Better at Together by embedding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) in everything we do. We strive to provide a welcoming and inclusive place for everyone. We do this by focusing on Chick-fil-A\u2019s four Corporate Social Responsibility pillars: Caring for People, Caring for our Communities, Caring for Others through our Food, and Caring for our Planet.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

To learn more, visit our Giving Back page and our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion page.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

Obviously, we\u2019d expect a company rooted (at least formerly) in biblical values to serve everyone. That\u2019s scriptural. But there\u2019s a difference between selling a chicken sandwich to someone and celebrating their behavior.\n<\/p>\n

Regardless,\u00a0it\u2019s absolutely baffling in America\u2019s current pushback climate that any company \u2014 let alone a self-proclaimed Christian one \u2014 would openly admit to \u201cembedding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)\u201d in \u201ceverything we do<\/em>.\u201d Obviously, this isn\u2019t a business caught unaware by a single rogue operator. This is a business with a deep and pervasive problem of activism.\n<\/p>\n

As Megan Basham\u00a0asked, \u201cwhat\u2019s going on here??\u201d What indeed.\n<\/p>\n

While skeptics are tempted to pin all of this on the Orem managers, that argument falls apart under the weight of the company\u2019s other policies. If the local operators can\u2019t declare, \u201cI want to be open on Sundays,\u201d how can they say, \u201cI\u2019ll message on something antithetical to Chick-fil-A\u2019s beliefs\u201d? Either the\u00a0mission statement\u00a0exists \u2014 \u201cTo glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us\u201d \u2014 or it doesn\u2019t.\n<\/p>\n

Either way, the entire controversy is astounding. On what planet would consumers expect Chick-fil-A to be to the left of places like\u00a0AT&T,\u00a0Toyota,\u00a0McDonald\u2019s, Walmart,\u00a0Amazon, and\u00a0dozens more? It boggles the mind, the Political Forum\u2019s Steve Soukup agreed. But, he was quick to point out, \u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that Chick-fil-A is a privately held company.\u00a0Consumer pressure can do a great deal to change corporate misbehavior, but often, shareholder pressure is even more potent, and I think this is one such case,\u201d he observed.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, social conservatives were buoyed in the culture wars by the ability of companies like Hobby Lobby to resist left-wing political trends and fads because of their private ownership.\u00a0Chick-fil-A\u2019s insensitivity to the current of cultural rebalancing represents the mirror image of that resistance,\u201d Soukup lamented. \u201cRobby Starbuck\u00a0was wise to target left-leaning corporations with right-leaning customer bases because that gave his efforts immediate impact.\u00a0Nevertheless, in Robby\u2019s undertakings, the threat of shareholder frustration always implicitly backed up the threat of unhappy customers.\u00a0That\u2019s not the case with Chick-fil-A,\u201d he said, \u201cwhich appears to have decided, at least for the time being, to remain on the wrong side of the cultural-counter-revolution.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Of course, in this instance, some would argue that Christians\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0the shareholders, and a company that\u2019s held itself out to represent them is beholden to that same community. It\u2019s why believers have been so disappointed by the moral failings that have plagued the brand\u00a0since 2019. It\u2019s also why they have the power to demand, with the same grassroots enthusiasm that forced the hands of Target and Anheuser-Busch, faithfulness to the standard Chick-fil-A has set for itself.\n<\/p>\n

In the meantime, there\u2019s plenty of puzzling about why the shift happened at all. Maybe, the Free Enterprise\u2019s Stefan Padfield speculated to The Washington Stand, Truett\u2019s grandson Andrew (now CEO) and his team \u201care true believers, in the sense that they wholeheartedly agree with things like discrimination in the name of anti-discrimination and men becoming women simply by saying so.\u201d Or, he suggested, \u201cthe relevant decision-makers might be radical activists themselves or under the spell of some. \u2026 These types don\u2019t really care if they destroy the business so long as they can pat themselves on the back for being \u2018on the right side of history.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n

They could also be living under a rock, Padfield supposed, not realizing how \u201ctoxic DEI has become.\u201d Or \u201cthey could be misguided opportunists who think marketing themselves as pro-DEI will somehow lead to greater returns. Regardless,\u201d he said, \u201cChick-fil-A is free to embrace DEI \u2014 and we are free to eat elsewhere.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Family Research Council\u2019s David Closson is equally stunned by the chain\u2019s departure from the Cathys\u2019 legacy, but he had plenty to say about what the executive team is getting wrong. \u201cWhen Chick-fil-A says it \u2018embraces everyone,\u2019 that\u2019s faithful to Scripture,\u201d he notes. \u201cBut to embrace contested identities \u2014 such as transgender identities or identities rooted in same-sex behavior \u2014 as morally legitimate expressions\u00a0is something altogether different. A company grounded in Christian conviction should be able to love and serve every person without endorsing categories that contradict biblical truth,\u201d Closson insists.\n<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the statement about \u201c\u2018embracing all people regardless of \u2026 sexual orientation or gender identity\u2019 and its commitment to embedding DEI into \u2018everything we do\u2019 raises legitimate concern,\u201d he stressed. \u201cDiversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks in corporate America are not neutral. They typically operate from a\u00a0moral vision that conflicts with the Christian understanding of creation, sin, identity, and human purpose,\u201d Closson continued. \u201cDEI, as commonly practiced, does not merely require treating all people kindly. It demands the affirmation of identity categories and behaviors Scripture calls believers to lovingly but firmly reject.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

As he underscored, \u201cChristians can and should affirm kindness, hospitality, and equal treatment for all customers and employees. But love for neighbor never requires affirming what God calls sinful or endorsing identities that obscure rather than reflect His created design. A mission committed to glorifying God must be anchored in truth as well as compassion,\u201d Closson urged. \u201cWhen corporate statements blur that distinction, they drift from a biblical foundation toward a secular ethic that cannot sustain the Christian identity Chick-fil-A has sought to cultivate over the years.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

This is a company, he pointed out, that \u201csought to distinguish\u00a0itself from other national brands by appealing to its founder\u2019s Christian convictions. Unfortunately,\u201d Closson added, \u201crecent developments suggest that this commitment increasingly functions as marketing rather than sincere conviction.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

As a former manager of a North Carolina Chick-fil-A told TWS, \u201cMany think that they hold to great values. I beg to differ. They uphold great standards of customer service \u2014 but that does not equate to values.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean the company can\u2019t change. Look at the transformation we\u2019ve seen from U.S. businesses that no one dreamed would shift to neutrality. Instead of clinging to obsolete DEI when the rest of corporate America has walked away, how about leaning into the faith-based identity that most loyalists already take for granted? Stop trafficking in this false idea of Christianity that offends. Move the vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion to a charitable project, ask for moral compliance from every operator representing the brand, and most of all, stop being afraid of who you are and the convictions you were built to represent.\n<\/p>\n

That, not wokeism, is how you honor Truett\u2019s legacy. That, not compromise, is how you live out Chick-fil-A\u2019s purpose.\n<\/p>\n

What do you think of this article? Share your prayers and scriptures below.<\/h4>\n

This article was originally published at American Family News.<\/em>
\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time: 5 minutes (AMERICAN FAMILY NEWS) \u2013 It\u2019s one thing to catch a local Chick-fil-A rebelling against Christian values \u2014 and quite another for headquarters to defend it. After this month\u2019s\u00a0revelation\u00a0that an Orem, Utah location was publicly supporting same-sex marriage in a congratulatory post on Facebook (a post that\u2019s still there), several disappointed customers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[236,3752,3753,1200,3751,495,3750,1540],"class_list":{"0":"post-13173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-prayer","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-chickfila","10":"tag-corporate","11":"tag-decision","12":"tag-defiant","13":"tag-left","14":"tag-mindboggling","15":"tag-moves"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}