Last week’s headlines were dominated by Chick-fil-A’s announcement that the restaurant would be cutting charitable ties with The Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA).
The move was hotly debated among the conservative Christian community, with the reaction seemingly split down the middle. On one hand, loyal fans defended the fast-food chain’s right to donate their own money to whomever they wish. On the other, those who felt sorely betrayed by the company whose unapologetic Christian values lamented that yet another “big name” had capitulated to the insatiable leftist mob.
For their part, The Salvation Army responded to the controversy with a statement expressing its shock and disappointment at the decision:
We love all. We serve all.
Read The #SalvationArmy's full statement in the image and here: https://t.co/F079r7lbMX pic.twitter.com/0jJv0Ed2zP— Salvation Army USA (@SalvationArmyUS) November 18, 2019
After the news first broke, evangelist and Samaritan’s Purse president Franklin Graham reportedly “picked up the phone and called Dan Cathy,” president and CEO of Chick-fil-A.
“Dan was very clear that they have not bowed down to anyone’s demands, including the LGBTQ community,” Graham said in a Facebook post, declaring that many had jumped the gun on condemning the decision to cut Christian charities off.
“They will continue to support whoever they want to support. They haven’t changed who they are or what they believe,” he continued. “Chick-fil-A remains committed to Christian values. Dan Cathy assured me that this isn’t going to change. I hope all those who jumped to the wrong conclusion about them read this.”
https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/2856365114419651
Others, however, weren’t quite so quick to simply take Mr. Cathy’s word for it.
In an open letter penned last week, Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver declared that Graham had done “a huge disservice by not doing more investigation into Chick-Fil-A’s betrayal and capitulation to the LGBT agenda.”
“While Dan Cathy may say the company has the same values, the company’s statements and actions tell a different story,” Staver argued.
The letter, according to CBN News, continues:
The President and Chief Operating Officer, Tim Tassopoulos continues to serve as an advisor to the Atlanta Boy Scouts. This alone should raise a red flag considering the Boy Scouts also capitulated to the LGBT agenda. He stated: “There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are.” “There are lots of articles and newscasts about Chick-fil-A, and we thought we needed to be clear about our message.”
In 2014, Chick-Fil-A decided to stop funding the Paul Anderson Youth Home because it was accused of being “anti-LGBT.” But it still had funding commitments with the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, both of which are also falsely accused of being “anti-LGBT” because they have biblical policies on marriage and sex outside of marriage.
Now that the funding commitment has expired, Chick-Fil-A says it will no longer fund the Salvation Army and FCA, even though the Salvation Army fits within its giving priority of funding organizations that provide housing and food banks, and FCA provides education. Instead, Tassopoulos states Chick-Fil-A will now fund Covenant House International, which is much smaller that the Salvation Army (in only 31 cities) and an LGBTQ activist.
Tassopoulos, speaking of funding Covenant House, states: “This provides more focus and more clarity.” At least he is correct, and this clarity reveals the betrayal.
When Chick-fil-A traded the Salvation Army and FCA for Covenant House, they clearly just traded one set of controversial organizations for another.
Staver continues, explaining Covenant House founder Bruce Ritter was accused of sexually abusing young people who looked to him for shelter, for which he was given a slap on the wrist.
Today, Covenant House proudly promotes the LGBT agenda, advancing “LGBTQ Inclusion Initiatives,” and subjecting each of its facilities to “inclusion assessments,” Staver says. Covenant House also proudly participates in the New York City gay pride parade with its own float, banners, t-shirts, and hashtag #CovUnity. Covenant House is even recognized as a national funder of the LGBT agenda.
The nominally Catholic organization has even been seen taking young homeless women to abortion clinics.
These revelations regarding Covenant House beg the question: if any concerned citizen could discover this information with a few simple web searches, how could Chick-fil-A possibly be unaware of it?
“To save its own corporate skin,” Staver concludes, “Chick-Fil-A has thrown good, biblical organizations under the bus and legitimized the false narrative of the LGBT activists.”
The Salvation Army serves over 23 million people per year worldwide, including LGBT individuals, providing shelter, food, and other resources. Covenant House can’t hold a candle to the Salvation Army’s effectiveness and global presence.
While Chick-fil-A does indeed have the right to dispose of its assets in whatever manner it chooses, its motives for cutting the Salvation Army and the FCA in favor of a radically pro-LGBT organization have been laid bare.
Franklin Graham was at least partly correct in his assessment of the situation when he said, “the gay movement wouldn’t ever be happy with Chick-fil-A unless they were open on Sunday, gave all of their charitable donations to LGBTQ organizations, and flew the rainbow flag over their stores!”
Sadly, it seems Chick-fil-A is well on its way toward fulfilling that grim prophecy.
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