Lisa Derrick Wednesday September 19, 2012 11:28 am
Oh goodie! Everyone now has a free pass to eat at the conservative Christian-founded Chik-fil-A, excepts vegans because there is no kale patty there. The fast-food company’s non-profit arm claims they have dropped their support of anti-gay groups in order to pursue the mighty dollar, worshiping Mammon and putting profits before the Chick-fil-A’s founding family principlesUm, no more like non-profits before the IRS. Let’s read between the lines here at this article from the Chicago Phoenix:
After months of negotiations with [Chicago] Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno over its anti-gay positions and donations, Chick-fil-A has agreed to cease donations from its non-profit charity to anti-gay organizations and issued a company-wide internal mandate calling for the equal treatment of all employees and customers.
WinShape, a non-profit funded by Chick-fil-A, has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT organizations — some classified hate groups — including Focus on the Family, according to The Civil Rights Agenda, which worked with Moreno and company executives in an advisory capacity as they negotiated to adopt new policies. Repeated attempts to confirm the information with Chick-fil-A have been unsuccessful….
The company outlined its shift in policy and practice in a letter addressed to Moreno (1st), who in July declared that he would block the popular fast food chain from opening a new location in his ward unless they changed their anti-gay policies. The letter, signed by Chick-fil-A’s Senior Director of Real Estate reads, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.” [emphasis mine]
So let’s see. The company was facing a difficult time expanding into Chicago. And will not be supporting political agendas. Giving money to groups that work to keep marriage equality off the ballot, or who work to defeat marriage equality at the ballot, is a political agenda.
Despite recent news articles claiming Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation donated money to our organization—this is false. The National Organization for Marriage has never received funding from them. We support Chick-fil-A’s philosophy that every person is treated with ‘honor, dignity and respect—regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender;’ and we will continue to endorse ‘Chick-fil-A Wednesdays’
Moreno, who made headlines this summer when he said he would seek to block Chick-fil-A opening in his ward, told the Chicago Tribune that Chick-fil-will issue a statement on non-discrimination.
Moreno said the statement will be included in a memo called “Chick-fil-A: Who We Are” to be distributed to all corporate employees and restaurant operators. The alderman said the memo will state the company’s commitment to “treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.” It also would state that it is the company’s “intent … not to engage in political or social debates.”
how the all of those people who lined up for the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day and spewed bible-beating homophobia to justify the corporation’s open support for hate groups (insisting it was really just about ‘free speech” opposing marriage equality)…
feel about the company now. The bottom line is at the corporate level , Chick-Fil-A realized institutionalized homophobia is bad for business.
And I wonder if NOM will quietly disband Chick-fil-A Wednesdays. But how can you keep filk away after they’d had waffle fries?
It’s evangelicals versus wineries in a Southern California battle for land use, as churches seek to alter the environment of Temecula’s American Viticultural Area. An AVA is a designated wine grape-growing region, as defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), United States Department of the Treasury. Temecula is located in Riverside County, about 90 minutes equidistant from Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Countries.
Thanks to its location in an inland valley and the decades of dedication by vintners, the Southern California burg of Temecula has gradually grown in recognition as a California wine producing area, and a tourist destination. The first vineyard was established by the padres of Mission San Juan Capistrano, 18 miles west of Temecula, in 1820, but commercial wine production began in 1968. The AVA was granted in 1984, and now there are 42 wineries on 33,000 acres in the Temecula Valley, which is located just east of Temecula’s city center. Within that area 5,000 acres have been designated as a C/V (Citrus/Vineyard) zone.
Along with Chik-fil-A, Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a Christian rights legal group is rallying for the cause:
Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a local nonprofit representing Christian interests, is saying it will file a federal lawsuit against the county if that proposed provision is upheld….Advocates for Faith and Freedom is not at all shy about filing lawsuits, but this maybe a little preemptive considering at a previous public hearing the majority of the Riverside County Planning Commission expressed distaste for the provision and asked staff members to come back with provisions that would allow churches in Wine Country…
On Wednesday, commissioners will have three options to choose from on that front: either continue to disallow churches, allow them, or disallow them except for Calvary Chapel, which already has a church (and plans to expand) there.
The reason the county had proposed disallowing churches and other non-wine-related institutes is plain and simply a matter of a demand on land. It’s way more expensive to start a vineyard, produce wine and sell it than it is it to build a nonprofit, bottom line.
Confident the Temecula Valley wine-grape region’s strict zoning limits would protect that view, [Ray Falkner] built a multimillion dollar banquet hall with floor-to-ceiling windows peering across a gorge to a nearby vineyard. Now he’s worried that vantage could be ruined by a Christian congregation’s request to change the region’s zoning so it can build on part of the vineyard.
Falkner’s property has become the front line of a bitter divide between churches and growers in Temecula’s wine country, where vintners fear a push to allow more houses of worship would hurt views, limit wine sales and cause conflicts between grape growers and congregations.
“We are in an economic development zone specifically targeted with the mission of being able to enhance the development of new wineries and the growth of existing wineries,” Falkner said. “How does a church help that mission?” …
State regulations [bar] the sale of alcohol in the “immediate vicinity” of places of worship. That limit is open to interpretation, but vintners feared an influx of churches could stop them from selling wine and opening tasting rooms, where many small operators do most of their business.
The Calvary Chapel Bible Fellowship is part of the Calvary Church empire, a widespread evangelical congregation that believes in the Trinity, the inerrancy of the Bible, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, placing them between Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism. Calvary Chapel’s founder, Chuck Smith, predicted the end of the world would come in 1981. Though they claim to be non-denominational and to have no legal or financial ties linking the different Calvary Chapel worship sites, Calvary Chapel has its own Bible college and 50 affiliated campuses throughout the world, and to meet the theological definition of a denomination. Calvary Chapel is currently facing charges that they are permitted special access to Camp Pendleton, the U.S. Marine Base in Southern California, and even more creepily, of child molestation in their ranks:
A Calvary Chapel church pastor and youth soccer coach has been arrested for allegedly picking up an 8-year-old girl for a play date with one of his five daughters but instead driving her to a Huntington Beach park, molesting her and giving her $40 not to say anything.
She did.
Christopher Raymond Olague, 39, of Westminster, was booked into the Huntington Beach city jail on suspicion of committing a lewd act on a child less than 14 years of age and preventing/dissuading a witness.
and:
Christopher Joseph Guardado, a 48-year-old Garden Grove man and volunteer Bible teacher at Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast in Westminster, is sitting in Theo Lacy Jail on suspicion of molesting two girls under the age of 14.
He was arrested on July 12 and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
Two North Idaho churches are accused of concealing and protecting a known child predator who sexually assaulted boys in both congregations, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Kootenai County District Court. The two churches are part of an international fellowship of nondenominational churches based in Santa Ana, Cali. [La Figa says: That would be Calvary Chapel. The docs are here]. Calls to both churches were not returned Friday…
Their lawsuit alleges the churches knew or should have known Iglesias was a child predator because years before, a Calvary Chapel in California denied him access to children because he had been convicted as a minor of improper sexual conduct with a younger boy.
In addition, Iglesias had been recalled from a religious mission for North Country Chapel at an orphanage in Thailand.
The plaintiffs allege the churches acted in concert with Iglesias to hide his history of pedophilia.
(Calvary Chapel’s mishandling of sexual abuse by its pastors doesn’t really bear on CCBF’s expansion, but it does give some insight into Calvary Chapel culture and lack of judgement).
There are two basic reasons to restrict houses of worship in the Temecula region: The sensitive micro-climate that makes it possible for Temecula to grow grapes; and the county’s funding through property taxes.
Churches, especially mega-churches, which is the status CCBF seem to aiming for, and other places of worship need parking lots. Parking lots are asphalt. Asphalt creates heat pockets.
One argument for building more churches is that weddings are held throughout Temecula Wine Country in banquet halls and hotels, so why not have more churches? Um, because some people don’t want to get married in churches.
Houses of worship are non-profit and pay substantially lower rates of property taxes than residential or commercial properties, which means that the county would lose money needed to maintain services and infrastructure.
began illegally (i.e. without a grading permit) removing the decades old vineyard overlooked by Falkner Winery and its Pinnacle Restaurant.
(Side note: If the land was for sale, concerned citizens should have bought it!)
The CCBF also stopped watering the remaining vines in the vineyard, hoping they would be granted permission to expand the church and build a daycare center and kindergarten through 8th grade school. The church’s proposed plans will not comply with 75% acre planted requirements imposed under zoning.
Federal and State law prevent vineyard owners from applying regulated substances necessary to protect vineyards within a quarter mile radius of schools. Calvary Bible fellowship’s large unpermitted campus, with its vast parking lots, sits across from Temecula’s oldest commercial vineyard, now owned by Maurice Car’rie Winery, and about a tenth of a mile away from the Falkner Winery where wedding are held. There is a push by environmentalists to expand the anti-chemical radius to 1/2 mile, which would effectively prevent a number of wineries from producing. No production and the land is useless–it could take years for land to be qualified as organic or biodynamic, and in the meantime, owners are losing money–unless, of course, housing developments are put in.
The State Alcohol Board of Control requires all licensed sales of alcohol have of setback of 200-600 feet from a place of worship, youth outdoor facility or school, and thus the potential for new wineries could be prevented from opening by the influx of churches and their related schools, whose locations prevent the growing of grapes.
Meanwhile there are over 60 churches in Temecula proper, as well as Calvary Chapel K-12 located just a 20 minute drive from CCBF which is still accepting enrollment for the 2013 school year; and a Calvary Chapel Christian Academy which provides the ministry a home school for high schoolers. Why does CCBF need to expand its school? Or expand at all unless they have something else afoot….?
And as for the argument that since so many people get married in Temecula Wine Country, why not have more churches? Because um, many people choose not to be married in churches, and having more churches won’t convince them otherwise.
CCBF senior pastor Clark Van Wick has thoughtfully provided a list of email addresses of planning commissioners and county supervisors so concerned citizens can express their views on the matter. If you have an opinion on the importance of small businesses, the environment, viticulture, and family farms, and dislike the idea of large asphalt parking lots destroying a county’s tax base, well, now you know who to contact. The meeting begins at 9 am west coast time.
Mary Stark, Planning Commission Secretary
County of Riverside Administrative Center
4080 Lemon Street, 12th Floor
P.O. Box 1409,
Riverside, CA 92502
Email: mcstark@rctlma.org Phone: 951-955-7436
fax: 951-955-1811
Riverside County Planning Commission:
Write separately: “Attention” each Planning Commissioner
There was a huge colon-clogging, gizzard glutting eat-in at Chick-fil-A on Sunset and Highland Wednesday for the Mike Huckabee-called, frothy Rick Santorum-embraced, Sarah Palin-endorsed, Rush Limbuagh-hyped “National Chick-fil-A Chick-fil-hAte Appreciation Day.” Two lines of cars snaked into the drive through ordering stations, backing up traffic onto Sunset Boulevard. I wish I had been able to take a snapshot of the woman in a nose job bandage eating a frozen dessert cone as she drove out. Very L.A.
The parking lot was full, and there were more people in line and on the patio than I had seen cumulatively in all the years I had driven by the deep-fried food scented corner. Groups holding a rainbow flag and pro-LGBTQ signs stood on the corner with two (female) LAPD officers who were very nice. The protestors were out-numbered by the gluttons easily 1:10.
I had listened to rush Limbaugh this morning and he was reading reports that Chick-fil-hAtes all over the country were full of customers. But in LA? Yes, people do eat fast food here, and this is one of two Chick-fil-hAtes in the area; the only other one in Los Angeles proper is near USC.
I think many people were driven to sample Chick-fil-A by the mistaken belief that this is a “free speech/freedom of religion” issue, not a matter of a for-profit corporation funneling money into a non-profit corporation which in turn donates to organizations like Focus on the Family and Family Research Council–groups which themselves have called for religious-based boycotts of Kraft, Proctor & Gamble, the Super Bowl, and Girl Scout cookies. The Chick-fil-A corporately funded foundation, WinShape also donates to Exodus, which until this year focused on “praying the gay away” as an ex-gay ministry, and has since publicly claimed they will no longer do so.
It remains to been seen if today was just a one day curiosity glitch driven by media, or if Chick-fil-hAte just tastes so darn good people can’t resist it. (It smells yucky to me).
Chick-Fil-A’s perception with fast food eaters nationwide has taken a significant hit in most regions of the US, including the South where most of its restaurants are located, since president and COO Dan Cathy’s perceived anti-gay remarks on July 16th…
As the controversy has snowballed, the company’s overall consumer brand health with fast food eaters has dropped to its lowest levels since at least mid-August 2010…
On July 16th, the day the Baptist Press published its Dan Cathy interview, Chick-Fil-A’s Index score was 65, a very substantial 19 points above the Top National QSR Sector average score that day of 46.
Four days later, Chick-Fil-A had fallen to 47 score, three points below the Top National QSR Sector average score of 50. This past Wednesday, Chick-Fil-A had a 39 score compared to the Top National QSR Sector average score of 43.
YouGov BrandIndex respondents in the South took Chick-Fil-A from an Index score of 80 on July 16th to its current 44. Chick-Fil-A’s biggest drop took place in the Northeast, where it went from 76 to 35, a difference of 41 points.
Friday, August 3 is National Same-Sex Kiss-In at Chick-fil-hAte. Grab a same-sex pal, your same-sex lover, or whomever and show that you support equal rights by kissing at your local Chick-fil-hAte. To quote Gore Vidal:
We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.
It’s time for allies to step up, too. Straight people have LGBTQ family, co-workers, friends so we too
Frothy Rick Santorum opened wide and embraced Mike Huckabee’s “National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” claiming that for the left:
There can be no dissent from what their position is.
Kinda like conservative Christians’ position on marriage equality and ENDA. And LGBTQ overall, because the conservative Christians feel there can be no dissent from (their interpretation of) God’s word. Think Progress sums it up:
The rise of the Christian Right is due for a 40th anniversary to mark the appropriation of Christianity by conservatives like Pat Robertson, Phyllis Schlafly, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and Ralph Reed. This coalition of mostly evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Mormons has largely succeeded in reducing the cultural definition of being Christian to those who share their beliefs. The present-day ravings of faux-historian David Barton seek to push even farther and erase the religious diversity at the heart of American patriotism. The “culture war” over LGBT equality presents one of the clearest dividing lines, with anti-gay talking heads like Tony Perkins over-dominating the media on behalf of “Christianity” while LGBT-affirming Christians are severely under-represented. [emphasis mine]
Santorum, who spoke Thursday on CNBC, further confused the issue of the interpretation of religious texts by saying
“This is why the Huguenots came to America,” Santorum said, adding the Dutch Reform Church and Catholics to that list.
“They didn’t want the government telling them what to believe and that they couldn’t say things in public, that they had to keep it to themselves,” he said, or be “barred from doing business.”
America was founded by dissenters, that’s true. Some were Catholics, some were Jews who played vital roles in the Revolution, some were from various Protestant sects. Let’s not forget the Freemasons! Various interpretations of God’s word/s, as evidenced by the differences between the Torah, the Catholic Bible, Masonic texts, the various Protestant translations and heck, even the Book of Mormon indicate that there’s a lot of room between the letters. And at one point or another the foundational Christian groups, the Catholics and Protestants, imprisoned, tortured and killed dissenters, including other Christians along with Jews, which is why they all bailed to America and other places. And Mormons were massacred by people calling themselves Christians.
America also has a free market, and if people don’t like how business donates profits, they don’t have to spend their money there. Chick-fil-A corporate donates to WinShape, the Chick-fil-A family charitable foundation, which in turn funds anti-LGBT organizations. Some of these organizations have themselves called for boycotts of businesses who beliefs run contrary to what is claimed by specific groups of Christians to be traditional Christian/Biblical values.
Focus on the Family, which received funding from WinShape, has urged boycotts on businesses and groups which support LGBT rights, including the Disney companies (since lifted), Kraft, United Way Charities and Big Brother/Big Sister, Proctor & Gamble, and most recently, the 2010 Super Bowl. What LGBTQ and their allies are doing by urging a boycott of Chick-fil-hAte is the exact same thing that Family Research Council, which received funding from WinShape, did this year when they promoted boycotting Girl Scout Cookies.
Goose/gander.
LGBTQ and allies are not calling for a boycott because Dan Cathy is a Christian. Or even a mean jerk. The boycott is because corporate funds from Chick-fil-A are being funneled to his foundation. A percentage of these tax-free funds goes to support organizations which promote anti-equality measures and also call for boycotts of other groups with whom they disagree. If Cathy wants to fund these groups, he should use his own salary, not money that comes from his corporation which is sheltered in a tax-free foundation. We all spend our earned money how we choose; we choose to whom we donate, where we spend our paychecks.
In other words: This is not about “free speech” or “freedom of religion.” Or about how Dan Cathy chooses to spend his corporate salary. It’s about a corporation funding a tax-free organization that in turn donates to groups that support hostility and oppression.
Oh, and if Richard Nixon had to confront LGBTQ issues, he’d repeal DOMA and EDNA–remember, he’s the guy who passed the EPA, OSHA and affirmative action. So take that! you GOP-presidential wanna-bees Huckabee, Santorum, and Ms. Palin.
Sarah Palin’s only grandson–the spawn of failing reality television arriviste Bristol Palin and fellow Wasillabilly fame-scrambler Levi Johnston–three-and-a half year old Tripp Palin called his Aunt Willow a word beginning with F (either a usually pejorative term for gay men, from the English schoolboy slang for a younger boy who does errands for older students; or the Anglo-Saxon verb for copulation. A production exec who claims he was in the room and watching the video feed pre-bleep claims the latter). Tripp also says
But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles. So that is what we claim to be. [We are] based on biblical principles, asking God and pleading with God to give us wisdom on decisions we make about people and the programs and partnerships we have. And He has blessed us.”
(Jesus was never quoted in the Gospels as calling LGBT sinners, or defining how people should behave in the privacy of their bedrooms. Jesus overturned all the Old Testament rules–except the Ten Commandments, one could argue–allowing those who believe in him to wear blended fabrics, get tattoos and eat bacon. Paul, who came along after Jesus ascended to Heaven and never knew him, as those to whom Gospels are attributed did, is an interpreter and evangelical rather than a firsthand-ish reporter whose stories where compiled after the fact.)
Burt and Ernie’s pals are standing up for everyone, gay and straight, who is appalled by Chick-fil-A, and not just because of the utterly vile, sub-literate spelling of
filet.
While the word may sound like a sexualized pun rhyming with gay
In 2009 alone, WinShape donated $1,733,699 to multiple anti-gay groups:
Marriage & Family Legacy Fund: $994,199
Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
National Christian Foundation: $240,000
Focus On The Family: $12,500
Eagle Forum: $5,000
Exodus International: $1,000
Family Research Council: $1,000
[Winshape 2009 Publicly Available IRS 990 Form via Foundation Center, accessed 10/28/11]
Mike Huckabee–who has been beating his breast about the abuse Chick-fil-A has suffered at the hands of the media and the Muppets while ignoring the loathing and lack of equality funded by the food chain–has declared August 1st “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” and via Facebook his media onslaught is encouraging people to eat the cholesterol-dense, high-sodium, sugared, MSG-laden fast food. Because he loves America.
There’s also a push to make August 3 National Same-Sex Kiss-In Day at Chick-fil-A, which has some pros and cons. First of all, same sex couples would have to go inside a Chick-fil-A. And all us straight people can do is either find a willing co-kisser, enter a Chick-fil-A to applaud the kiss-in, or keep boycotting some place where we’d never eat anyway.
And if you’ve been wondering what you might be missing by never sampling a gay-hating, heart and soul destroying fast food sammich, here are two chemical-free versions you can try at home, very gay friendly. But still fried after being battered with sugar and salt. Part of me thinks natural ice cream might be healthier.
