Last week the media and social networks were all a buzz about the controversy behind Chik-fil-A’s statement about the ongoing battle on marriage equality vs. traditional families. I have seen many graphics that looked more like propaganda than anything else. The traditional famly-ists against the non traditional famly-ists continues to wage war against one another and they don’t seem to really bring about peace to the nation as a whole. We are a diverse nation of people, whose forefathers came from all over the world. They were of several different beliefs, cultures, and races. Our ancestors came here in hopes to find freedom to live peaceably and to pursue our own individual beliefs. Why can’t the country embrace their own beliefs and yet give others the freedom to pursue their own? We’ve already had a Civil War and I really don’t want to see it happen again.
Those who have accepted the public school avenue for education and those who choose alternatives all claim to pursue the best education possible for their children. If all of these groups truly are working hard to increase their education then why can’t they figure out a better way to have public discourse without using the same belittling smoke screen attacks the politicians use? Why can’t we find a way to communicate effectively without making it all about choosing one way over another?
People have the freedom to have a traditional family. There is nothing in the law of this nation that prohibits them. The traditional family does not know what it’s like to hide the fact that they have one mom and one dad. They don’t have any reason to fear their children will get beat up in school just because their mom and dad got married. Traditional families have nothing to fear if one spouse is hospitalized, because they have full access to be with their spouse in ICU. Traditional families have nothing to fear if one dies before the other, because they have the right to claim their social security. All of this security for them, yet they worry about the traditional family being in danger? No one is going to force a traditional family to give up their marriage rights, break them up, or halt them from having a legal wedding.
If the traditionalists are going to worry about the sanctity of marriage then they need to focus on their own marriages and not worry about everyone else’s. Traditional marriage will never die, because without a sperm and an egg people can’t have babies.
It seems to be an oxymoron for a traditionalist Christian to worry about anything, because Christ tells them to have faith. They are to walk by faith and pursue their own walk with God, while being willing to give up all their ‘rights’ for the cause of Christ. Yet they continue to create battle after battle where there is no threat. Maybe Chik-fil-A didn’t realize this as they fanned the flames when they issued this hypocritical statement,
“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect –- regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.
Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.
Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”
I don’t have a problem with a company saying they support traditional families, but when they claim they don’t discriminate then financially back laws and other agencies who do, then that is where I believe people become weary of the hypocrisy and understandably so.
A traditional family is where the parents are one mom and one dad who entered into holy matrimony and are raising children together. What about the widowed grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren, because the parents are both in jail? How about the single grandfathers who are caring for nieces and nephews whose parents never married and are homeless due to drug addiction? What about single women who have compassionate hearts and are foster parents to children who were abandoned? None of these families are traditional families. Who supports them? Why can’t we just support families in general? Shouldn’t supporting the family be for the purpose of offering children a future? Are children from non traditional families not relative to the future, because their parental unit does not consist of one man and one woman?
I saw a graphic that made me wince a bit. It was of the Chik-fil-A cows painting a billboard that read,
“Be mor tolrant, boycot Chik-fil-A”
What an oxymoron! The whole reason people are upset is because Chik-fil-A and other agencies are boycotting non traditional families while people are claiming they are intolerant for doing so. Isn’t boycotting a form of intolerance? So I re-created the graphic to this;
I understand the anger when there is discrimination. I understand wanting to support businesses who do support equal rights. What I don’t understand is how one group can discriminate against others who are discriminating too, then ask for tolerance for themselves.
I support equal rights. Two consenting adults should have the same equal rights as anyone else. They should be free to make a commitment to one another and have their own families without discrimination. Their children should be able to go to school and church without being bullied for being a part of a non traditional family. These children should not be discriminted against, because their parents choose a different lifestyle than the status quo.
When Jesus walked throughout the land, he never commanded the Christians to force the government to live by the Torah. His charge to his followers was simple, “Love others as you love yourself”. He even went further by saying, “Love your enemies”. There was also this scenario where a rich man asked how he could be a disciple. Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. The man chose not to do that and Jesus let the man be free to make his choice. He didn’t condemn the man or withhold his money from him. He didn’t demand the government to take away the man’s right to be rich. Jesus didn’t picket the man’s business nor build billboards to incite rage and gather an army to boycott his business either. He let it go!
Then, in the midst of this last week’s drama about whether or not we should eat fried chicken advertised by uneducated cows or shop at JCPenney, innocent lives were taken just after midnight as a shooter entered a movie theater in Colorado. The social network newsfeeds halted the marriage equality debate as everyone stood in agreement that this was a senseless act of violence. The people, both traditional and non traditional, cry out for justice!
The president issued a statement and this part grabbed my full attention,
“We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded. As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family.”~President Obama
This is the absolute truth of the matter, we are One American Family. We are an American family that is both white and black, red and yellow, male and female, young and old, Italian and German, English and African, Christian and Muslim, Pagan and Jew. This One American Family has it’s fair share of dysfunction, but it is still one family! We rejoice together on the Fourth of July and weep together every September 11th.
This is a country where we are both of our ancestor’s heritage and one new heritage under the stars and stripes. This is a family that is both traditional and non traditional and as we face uncertain days of senseless acts of violence, we are still one family. Be free to build community with those who are supportive of your individuality, tradition, or sacred beliefs. What is sacred to one may not be sacred to another and that’s ok. So long as we can be supportive and protective of one another’s right to pursue happiness and freedom to worship as each person sees fit.
Sisterlisa
