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Bullying American business over gay marriage views

By Babette Francis - posted Monday, 13 August 2012


"Hate crime" laws proliferate and Christian adoption agencies that will not place children with homosexual couples have to close. The list goes on of cultural, social and political infringements on liberty, free speech and religious rights. Don't imagine it ends at the altar of same-sex marriage.

The entire Chic-fil-A controversy erupted over efforts by two noted leftists to impose their belief system on America through the intimidation of Dan Cathy, owner of the restaurant chain. Reacting angrily to Cathy’s assertion that the Bible defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel have attempted to implement a “Christianity Verboten”
policy, vowing to prevent Chic-fil-A franchises from opening in their cities. In essence, these tolerant leftists are suppressing business activity by anyone who does not conform to their countercultural belief system.

As the political and media firestorm has unfolded, other renowned leftists joined in. Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray referred to the restaurant’s fare as “hate chicken.” In 
California and Missouri, Chic-fil-A buildings were vandalised, and in Tucson Arizona, a drive-thru worker was harassed and bullied by a protestor. Throughout all of the controversy, any criticism of the progressives venom and bile has been tepid and thoroughly overwhelmed by sanctimonious assertions that the Cathy’s restaurant chain deserves all of the abuse it receives.

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The left will undoubtedly continue to assert itself as the sole moral arbiter of the nation. But as time goes on, that claim appears increasingly absurd. Here's another example: Lost Cajun Kitchen is a small, mom-and-pop restaurant located in Pennsylvania. The restaurant made news, because it offered a discount on Sundays to anyone bringing in a church bulletin. John Wolff, who is an atheist, filed the complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission against Prudhomme's Lost Cajun Kitchen in 
Columbia. Wolff said the practice discriminates against him because he does not attend church.

"I did this not out of spite, but out of a feeling against the prevailing self-righteousness that 
stems from religion, particularly in Lancaster County," said Wolff, a retired electrical engineer.

Sharon Prudhomme, one of the co-owners of the restaurant, said she is not discriminating 
because diners don't have to actually attend a church or synagogue service to get a bulletin.
She said area religious leaders told her that anyone can walk in a religious building and obtain a bulletin, without attending services. Prudhomme added that she has no intention of changing the discount program, which she created to bring more traffic into her restaurant on a traditionally slow day.

So what happened next? Just like with Chick-fil-A, the attention has resulted in big business for the restaurant. As reported in The Christian Post, "Owner Sharon Prudhomme explained that business has been up and support has poured in from all over the country and even the world.” “It has definitely picked up," said Prudhomme to the York Daily Record, adding that
"everybody that comes in offers a lot of handshakes, hugs. Everybody is offering a lot of
support."

John Wolff says he has no animosity toward the owners of the restaurant. So why has he taken legal action against it? No one is being discriminated against and no one is showing intolerance in this situation except for Wolff. The local newspaper hit the nail on the head with their op-ed about Wolff by writing, "It seems, like so many atheist complaints are designed more to draw attention to oneself than to right a serious constitutional wrong."

So churchgoers can come on a Sunday and get a 10 per cent discount on their crawfish if they hand over a church bulletin. Big deal. Restaurants offer all sorts of discounts based on debatable criteria - to senior citizens, to youth sports teams, to people who buy the newspaper and clip out the coupons.

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Labeling anyone who supports traditional marriage a "homophobe" or "bigot" is bullying.

The "Marriage Equality" catch cry of homosexual activists is a misnomer  - homosexual unions are NOT equal to heterosexual unions because they cannot produce children. A third 
party was involved in producing the baby seen in those happy photos of homosexual 
couples with "their" child. And that child is deprived of the right to be raised by one of its biological parents, and often even to know who that parent is. Marriage precedes the development of nation states and it was instituted to provide the optimal environment for raising the next generation. Nations tamper with marriage at their peril.

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About the Author

Babette Francis, (BSc.Hons), mother of eight, is the National & Overseas Co-ordinator of Endeavour Forum Inc. an NGO with special consultative status with the Economic & Social Council of the UN. Mrs. Francis is the Australian representative of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer - www.abortionbreastcancer.com. She lived in India during the Partition of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan, a historical event that she believes was caused by the unwillingness of the Muslim leaders of that era to live in a secular democracy.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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