Opinion/Current Events

By Summer Lane

Photo: Deposit, Editorial Use Only

Chick-fil-A has long been the Hobby Lobby of the Christian food world, a chicken-fried mecca where homeschooling families and clean-cut Americans flocked for post-soccer practice lunch and pre-exam snacking.

Like In-n-Out, Chick-fil-A is the type of fast-food restaurant that has become a permanent fixture of the American identity. The drive-thru is perpetually packed, the restaurant plays Christian hymns, the tables are decorated with pert stem vases and rosebuds, and the employees are some of the friendliest around.

So, it comes as no surprise that many ardent chicken-aficionados were very disappointed with the newest Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement from the fast-food company, which has famously held the line on conservative, Christian values.

Here’s part of the statement:

“When we combine our unique backgrounds and experiences with a culture of belonging, we can discover new ways to strengthen the quality of care we deliver: to customers, to the communities we serve and to the world. We understand that getting Better at Together means we learn better, care better, grow better and serve better. Chick-fil-A, Inc.’s commitment to being Better at Together means embedding Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in everything we do.”

You might wonder why this is such a big deal! Simply put, the words “diversity, equity and inclusion” are terms that have been prominently hijacked by the neo-Marxist revolutionary movement within America. Imagine these terms as a calling card, if you will. They do not mean what you would hope they mean.

Chick-fil-A has been going downhill ever since Samuel Cathy passed.

Here's a flashback to his embarrassing son bending the knee and shining some black rapper's shoes as repentance for his whiteness and a show of solidarity with the BLM movement during the 2020 summer of rioting. pic.twitter.com/n7IBiLfTju

— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) May 30, 2023

DEI goes hand-in-hand with ESG (environmental, social, and governance scoring). According to a report from Reuters, DEI initiatives are little more than standardized regulations for directing employee hires and beyond.

A columnist for The American Conservative, Rod Dreher, offers more insight into DEI here:

“Rather than make relations between racial groups more congenial, they [DEI training programs] made non-progressive whites more suspicious and afraid of minority co-workers. Why? Because the sessions, which felt like receiving training in dogmatic theology in a rigid, punitive seminary, made it clear who had power and who did not. One tended to avoid any potentially controversial conversation with a minority co-worker, to avoid that chance of being accused of racism, of microaggressions, or of any other offense against the sacred code. Within organizations dominated by DEI ideology, you had no reason to believe that if accused by someone favored by DEI categories, you would get a fair hearing. The entire DEI ethos functions to make whites and people of all races who dissent into thought criminals.”

To put it bluntly, DEI programs are crafted to implement training and procedural protocol based on race, skin color, and perceived white supremacy. It is simply another functioning arm of Marxist policy, which aims to create division and contempt between Americans.

There’s nothing diverse, equitable, or inclusive about it.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Chick-fil-A has found itself in hot water for questionable behavior. According to a report from The Post Millennial, the company’s acting CEO, Dan T. Cathy, made a spectacle in 2020 when he shined a Black rapper’s shoes during an interview to illustrate what the Christian attitude should be toward perceived racism in the U.S. today.

Per the Daily Mail, Cathy asked for “white people” to stop pointing their fingers at the vandalism and bloody violence of BLM and Antifa rioters in the wake of George Floyd’s death, instead encouraging “repentance” from what he apparently viewed as collective racism toward the African American community.

Ergo, the DEI statement from Chick-fil-A that surfaced this week is nothing shocking – but it is sad. One by one, bastions of our American identity are bowing their heads to the Marxist mob that is powering our corporations, our government officials, and our insidious financial institutions.

It’s not a matter of companies who are making stupid mistakes or misreading their customer base. It’s a matter of companies who are being held at economic knifepoint. If they do not join the Orwellian chorus of DEI, ESG, and cultural sensitivity – all hijacked buzzwords that mean quite the opposite of what they claim – then they will be destroyed by their financial and governmental overlords.

Do boycotts really do any good when a company like Target, for example, will simply ride the wave of outrage until it’s petered out into a dull flame? Even if Target were to fold, the corporate entities powering Target would simply relaunch and revive a different business under a new corporate umbrella. The corporate world is chimerical in nature – like hydra, when you chop off one head, another two will regrow in its place.

Chick-fil-A’s disappointing direction is just another steppingstone in the agenda of the twisted attack that is aimed at destroying America’s colorful and beautiful identity. It is razing our institutions and our culture to the ground, with the intent of rebuilding a new and “sustainable” dystopian future from the ground up.

Should Christians eat at Chick-fil-A anymore, given their new, “woke” agenda? My answer is that every family must decide that for themselves. It is pretty much impossible to shop ANYWHERE in this country that does not feed money back into the same corporate pot that supports anti-American causes. Whether it’s Walmart or Bud Light, our children are being bombarded with messages from every institution in the country, ranging from the dilution of binary gender to the insistence that all white people are racist.

Chick-fil-A, at the end of the day, is just one company. You, however, are in control of your household, what you teach, and how you share your worldview with your children.

While the world crumbles around us, let us remember the truth spoken by Jesus:

¹⁶ “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, ¹⁸ and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. ²⁰ For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹ Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, ²² and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Matthew 10:16-25

The opinions in this article are specific to its author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire Counter Culture Mom team. This specific article was written by Summer Lane, and may not be reproduced, except to quote for reviews or interviews, without the express permission of the author. 

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Summer Lane is the #1 bestselling author of 30 books, including the hit Collapse Series and Resurrection Series. She is an experienced journalist and columnist who reports on news within the U.S. and abroad. She is the Associate Editor for Right Side Broadcasting Network. Additionally, she analyzes politics and policies on The Write Revolution.

Summer is also a mom and wife who enjoys rural country living, herding cats, and gardening. She is passionate about writing about women’s issues, parenting, and politics from a theologically-grounded perspective that points readers to the good news of the gospel.

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