I have opinions and most of them are strong. I also like it when you have 
opinions even if they are different from mine. Critical thinking is our friend and respectful grappling back and forth is good. I haven’t cornered the market on truth and neither have you.
I love Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and I love my LGBTQA+ siblings. I had read that Chick-Fil-A had changed their policies against LGBTQA+ neighbors and yet I saw an article yesterday that said Chick-Fil-A donated $180,000 to organizations that discriminate against LGBTQA+ folks in 2017. This means no more Chick-Fil-A for me – at least for now.
It’s a disappointment and I don’t kid myself into thinking that my boycotting any organization for whatever reason will alter their profit margins much. It’s more of a spiritual decision for me.
I re-read the article from Fox Reno and decided that it actually wasn’t very good. It triggered me and I posted it and I’m grateful to a friend for pushing back. But the reason I deleted it is because some of the subsequent comments felt too sharp. I wish we could grapple respectfully without name-calling and snarkitude. I wish we could disagree without demonizing each other.
Even – and especially – when we make our political and social stands based on our interpretation of Scripture, feelings run deep. When we equate our opinions with what we believe God is calling us to be and do, the stakes are high. And yet there is no need to convey hate when we disagree – even about something as essential to me as supporting people who identify as LGBTQA+.
This article from last week is another reason why I removed the article about Chick-Fil-A from Facebook. Among the most disturbing lines:
48.8 million voters out of the 136.7 million who cast ballots in 2016 believe that members of opposition party are in league with the devil.
In. League. With. The. Devil.
The everyday animosity towards those with whom we disagree is chipping away at our souls. And so I’ll say it again:
I have opinions and most of them are strong. I also like it when you have opinions even if they are different from mine. Critical thinking is our friend and respectful grappling back and forth is good. I haven’t cornered the market on truth and neither have you.
If we can’t wrestle together without hatred, we will become poorer citizens and more shallow human beings. But there is a lot of hate out there. We can do better.
A Church for Starving Artists 
I would encourage everyone to click through to the cited article. The three discriminatory organizations to which Chick Fil A contributed were the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Paul Anderson Youth Home and the Salvation Army. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is cited as having a strict “sexual purity” policy for employees. What do you bet that a strict sexual purity policy would include a prohibition against premarital sex by heterosexuals? Can you at least grant that Christians can have that view and base it on Scripture, even if that is not your interpretation? As for the Salvation Army, can you not respect their well-documented charitable efforts? I don’t know much about the Paul Anderson Youth Home but it appears to be a local organization in Georgia. Whether you respect their interpretation of Christian morals or not can you not grant that their goals of providing help with substance abuse, high school graduation and vocational training are worthwhile goals?
I don’t care if you patronize Chick Fil A or not, but the constant boycotting and harassment from the left against traditional Christians makes me laugh at progressives’ constant claims about how much they value tolerance. From what I can tell, progressives are only tolerant of those who agree with them about everything.
For the record, I don’t believe you are in league with the devil. I just disagree with much of your theological and political views, but I check this blog every day.
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In the current United Methodist debate, it seems that many on the traditionalist side hear “LBGTQ” and immediately think “HIV-infected child molesters,” and many on the progressive side hear “traditional Biblical teachings” and immediately think “Westboro Baptist Church.” Both sides are thinking in caricatures, and this does not lead to productive discussions.
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This NPR article is about one of your NC churches:
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/06/703356844/pastoring-a-purple-church-i-absolutely-bite-my-tongue-sometimes
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