It's been a couple of weeks now since the
Chick-Fil-A furor has somewhat died down. I will admit it was gratifying to watch the news reports about people lined up around the block waiting three hours for a chicken sandwich.
It seems this question is raised once or twice every year in the church world - with the recent
Chik-Fil-A thing getting just about as big as we've seen it lately. Should Christians boycott companies that have divergent belief systems than those Jesus stood for?
Over the years, I've heard other all-out bans suggested on, but not limited to,
WalMart, Disney, Proctor & Gamble, Ford, Starbucks, McDonald's, Levi Strauss ... for objections to things like child labor, support of gay principles, links to satanism, etc.
Often, non-Christian groups will answer back by boycotting Christian groups on the basis of, but not limited to, support of one-woman-one-man relationships, exclusivism, views on abortion or capital punishment, Christmas terminology, etc.
I heard it over and over with
Chick-Fil-A ...
'How dare they?'
'That's so mean.'
Why can't they just let everyone believe what they want to and get on with their lives?'
'They're just big bullies.'
'It's just a chicken sandwich, for crying out loud.' (No one used the term
'for crying out loud' - I just threw that in myself.)
"Why don't we just offer a Venti Vanilla Bean Frappucino in Jesus' name instead and be done with it?"
As believers in Jesus, we certainly want to stand for what is right. The bigger question becomes, 'How do we do that?'
I don't think this is all that hard. Our main purpose on this planet is to serve the mission of Christ - to seek and save the lost.
One way we can figure out if boycotting is the right thing to do is to just switch places with the 'other side.' All the things we thought about the 'anti-Chick-Fil-A side' - all the emotions - all the back room arrows we tossed - all the striving and contending ---- is that what we want said about us when we band together to take some business down?
I've never seen those boycotts work. I've never seen one where the 'other side' didn't look and sound mean. All that is produced is anger and spite and deepened chasms.
I don't know when eating grilled chicken became a religious statement, but I'll confess that it was amazingly great that believers and supporters all across
America would stand in line that long - not for a chicken sandwich - they're good, but they're not that good - but to show what they're in support of. It wasn't about what they were against; but what they were for.
That's how we need to operate. Christians are known far more for what they're against than what they're for. Little to nothing is achieved when Christians boycott, bully, picket, gang up on others for the self-described purpose of taking a stand for the Kingdom. I'm not sure how any of that shows the love of Christ or draws people toward the Kingdom of God. God doesn't need an attorney or a bigger, stronger team for the cosmic tug-of-war.
I see us standing in long lines to get a chicken sandwich to show we support
Chick-Fil-A - which is great, even though God never said we should or shouldn't do that. I don't think
Chick-Fil-A is in the Bible anywhere. I haven't found it yet; I'm still looking. I'll let you know. But I have yet to see lines that long form in front of homeless shelters or food banks in order to help them - something Jesus actually told us to do.
At what point did Christ call us to use the cruel and mean methods of the world to glorify Him? Did Christ call us to make sure everybody knows via our purchasing power that God doesn't support gay marriage? Or does He just want us brightly shining the virtues of what one-man-one-woman marriage is all about? Why don't we just offer a
Venti Vanilla Bean Frappucino in Jesus' name instead and be done with it?
I kind of think Christians should boycott boycotts and just let the love and grace of Christ lead us forward.
And be blessed.