Just how chicken IS CFA?

Instead of a kiss-in at CFA locations today, wouldn't it be more useful to have lots of people with clipboards each representing a local charity or organization that helps people soliciting donations and volunteers?

The pro-CFA people largely claim their support is for Christian values. Great! There are lots of organizations that try to feed, clothe, and shelter the poor, work with the elderly and foster kids, advocate for better health care, and so on. This would be a GREAT opportunity for those groups pursuing truly Christian values to network with all the people who make claims to be Christians but for whatever reason seem to have been completely oblivious to the existence of these organizations. Everyone benefits!

It would be educational to see the response to such overt solicitation. While I imagine there might be some uncomfortable exchanges as people try to justify why they have time, energy, enthusiasm, and money to support Mr. Cathy's actions supporting oppression, intolerance, and even murder, but do NOT have the time, energy, enthusiasm, or money to actually do good in their own communities through acts that Jesus Himself promoted in the Gospels. I would also be interested to see the reaction of CFA corporate to these solicitations. Would they support them as an extension of their purported corporate agenda? Would they use this as an opportunity to reallocate some of the $$$ they're currently using against people in the communities they serve to other programs that would be more universally beneficial? Or would they call the cops to get them removed from the premises?

How can we get this kind of activism off the ground?

Deboning the "Chicken"

OK - let's consolidate several discussions/arguments/debates over the whole "Chick-Fil-A" controversy.  

First, I am GLAD that Dan Cathy has a freedom of speech, and am equally glad that he chooses to express his religious beliefs regarding same-sex marriage.   Why?   Because it's important to me that these rights exist and are maintained regardless of the content;  it's a fundamental necessity to a viable society.

This of course requires that I ALSO have the freedom to speak, the freedom to choose my OWN religious beliefs and the freedom to associate the two, as Mr. Cathy has done.  

Where the line has been drawn (and crossed) goes back to the core values upon which this country was formed - namely that everyone is equal and has the same rights, and that laws must be applied equally to all citizens.   We've not been perfect at applying this as all of the struggles over civil rights, etc., have shown, but the actual VALUES have been there since the outset.   At the same time, we have always been a diverse community, hence "E Pluribus Unum" - and it is the combination of our diverseness in culture, belief, and lifestyle that has been one of our mightiest strengths, again supported by our common belief that all are equal.

Mr. Cathy - despite his free speech and protected beliefs also has available to him a company through which he donates money to causes of HIS choosing.   Several of them seek to "qualify equality" for segments of the population, namely non-heterosexuals on the basis of HIS beliefs.   That crosses the line and MUST be countered if we intend to commit to the core value of equality.    The severeness of this is made clear in the choice of his donations - they include among them support for changes in the law to criminalize non-heterosexuality (established OR perceived) up to and including making it a CAPITAL CRIME.   To date this has been applied to several African nations, but it is entirely reasonable to conclude that if Mr. Cathy is ACTIVELY promoting the death penalty in Kenya and Uganda, that he would be also inclined to support such in the United States.

At the very LEAST, it is imperative that my own resources are not used in any way to enable Mr. Cathy's lest that my own resources are used to harm me or people like me.   Therefore, a general boycott of Chick-Fil-A is absolutely necessary, not to mention a public outcry against his actions, informing others about the situation, and issues a general call for support to apply pressure to have these practices changed.

With all of this disclosure, any continued support of Chick-Fil-A either happens because the supporter AGREES with Mr. Cathy's position, or is too weak-willed to select one of the competitors to Chick-Fil-A.   No one is forced to patronize them.   Choosing NOT to patronize them in no way limits Mr. Cathy's freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or ability to act upon either, claims to the contrary are simply fallacious.

So - go and enjoy your hate-filled chicken if you desire.   I hope you won't because you'll basically be sending the message that any support/love/etc. you have for me is surpassed by your inability to distance yourself from someone who seeks to harm me.   Like it or not - this is what it comes to - this is where I draw MY line.   Whose side do you choose to be on?