McDonald as a Corporation is Refusing to Remain Neutral in the Sex Culture Wars.

Poll – do fast food chains' religious leanings flavor your patronage?

Over at the Belief Blog our colleague Dan Gilgoff delves into the ongoing flapbetween gay rights supporters and the management of fast food chain Chick-fil-A.

The restaurants, founded by businessman Truett Cathy in 1960s Atlanta, operate on a "Five–Step Recipe for Business Success" that includes a mandate for all branches to remain closed on Sundays as "our way of honoring God and of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business" and puts "principles and people ahead of profits" through community service.

At least one of Chick-fil-A's other three guiding principles is in peril, though: Never lose a customer. Activists and gay rights groups including the Human Rights Campaign launched a letter writing campaign after the company donated free food to a marriage seminar sponsored by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, an organization opposed to gay marriage.

The uproar gained traction on the company's Facebook page, prompting Chick-Fil-A president and founder's son Dan Cathy to created a video and written response declaring in part:

In recent weeks, we have been accused of being anti-gay. We have no agenda against anyone. At the heart and soul of our company, we are a family business that serves and values all people regardless of their beliefs or opinions. We seek to treat everyone with honor, dignity and respect, and believe in the importance of loving your neighbor as yourself.

We also believe in the need for civility in dialogue with others who may have different beliefs. While my family and I believe in the Biblical definition of marriage, we love and respect anyone who disagrees.

...

Chick-fil-A's Corporate Purpose is "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us, and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A." As a result, we will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family. This decision has been made, and we understand the importance of it. At the same time, we will continue to offer resources to strengthen marriages and families. To do anything different would be inconsistent with our purpose and belief in Biblical principles.

The company has pulled its sponsorship from The Art of Marriage - now sponsored solely by the Pennsylvania Family Institute. Still, activist groups and blogs such asGood As You and Change.org continue to monitor the situation - as well as exploring the potential for bias in reporting.

Chick-fil-A is hardly the only fast food outfit to make its founders' religious leanings part of its recipe. Western U.S. burger chain In-N-Out, founded in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder and still privately owned, has since at least the late 1980s, printed citations of bible passages on various pieces of packaging.

The verses themselves are not explicitly printed out, but rather text on the soft drink cup reads "John 3:16" which indicates the bible passage, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The single burger and cheeseburger wrappers bear "Revelations 3:20" - "Behold: I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me," the milkshake cup cites, "Proverbs 3:5" - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding," and there are others as well.

In-N-Out, however, makes no mention of their religious leanings on their website. They have made no public statement on the matter, other that company spokesman Carl Van Fleet reportedly saying that Richard Snyder, son of the founders told him, "It's just something I want to do."

Domino's Pizza has often been incorrectly cited as directly funding anti-abortion groups such as Operation Rescue and Right To Life. Rather, staunchly Catholic founder Tom Monaghan, who sold off the controlling stake of the company in 1998 and now helms the Ave Maria Foundation which "support[s] a variety of organizations which bring Catholic life and culture to the world," has long publicly championed conservative causes and opposed abortion - but has used his private funds to do so. Still, in 1988, the National Organization of Women organized a country-wide boycott of the pizza chain to protest his activities, and regional chapters followed suit in following years until his separation from the company.

Carl Karcher, founder of Carl's Jr. hamburger chain was similarly invested in Catholic-based philanthropy and passionately outspoken against abortion and gay rights until his death in 2008. Like Monaghan, he funded these pursuits - including the "Briggs Initiative," which was a 1978 California ballot proposition to ban gays and lesbians from working in the state's public schools - personally, rather than directly from company coffers. Still, gay rights and pro-choice activists targeted Carl's Jr. for boycotts because of the affiliation.

Wendy's, too, came under fire in 1997 with a boycott from the gay and lesbian community after the company pulled its advertising from the sitcom "Ellen," when it was revealed that the main character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, would come out as a lesbian. However, in 2006, four years after the death of founder Dave Thomas, the Equality Project announced that company would amend its workplace nondiscrimination policy by adding new written protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for all employees - a move applauded by LGBT advocacy groups.

A fast food franchise's perceived lack of moral stance or too-permissive leanings can also leave a bad taste in some diners' mouths.

In the September of 1990, Christian Leaders for Responsible Television, a media watchdog group affiliated with the American Family Association called for a boycott of Burger King, asserting that the company sponsored 18.85 instances of sex, violence or profanity for every 30 seconds of commercial airtime they purchased during primetime network television - but did not cite any particular shows. CLeaR-TV chairman Reverend Billy Melvin, however, noted that acceptable programming would include, "a man and a woman not engaging in premarital sex until they are married, of a man and woman committing themselves to this relationship the rest of their lives."

The burger behemoth struck back with newspaper ads declaring, "Burger King wishes to go on record as supporting traditional American values on television....We believe the American people desire television programs that reflect the values they are trying to instill in their children."

On October 31st of that year, while CLeaR-TV released a statement saying that the two forces had reached a "mutual understanding," a Burger King spokesperson told the press, "It must be stressed that Burger King Corp. did not change its principles of its media buying strategies as a result of the boycott."

The American Family Association later held McDonald's feet to the flames with a call for boycott in response to the company's membership in the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce - the largest LGBT business group in the country, representing 1.4 million businesses. Text from an internet archive of the now-defunct BoycottMcDonalds.com states, "It is about McDonald's, as a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald's has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage."

The AFA also objected to McDonald's sponsorship of the 2007 San Francisco Gay Pride parade, bolstered by a television commercial with a company official "bragging" that McDonald's is "a company that actively demonstrates its commitment to the gay and lesbian community."

In 2010, The Advocate reported that the NGLCC had since severed their ties to McDonald's after Don Thompson, McDonald’s chief of operations said that "cultural norms" would prevent a gay-friendly commercial for their company, such as one that recently aired in France, from showing up on American television.

This Article Appeared at  CNN

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