Chick-fil-A response

The writer of the Aug. 31 front page Chick-fil-A article, Kyle Shanahan, violated the core precept of good reporting. That precept is to fairly and accurately report the news. His article was as highly-biased as they come.

Mr. Shanahan starts off by posing the notion of a “nationwide conflict” between Chick-fil-A and the LGBT community, as if this “conflict” is an isolated one between these two parties. It is not.  Chick-fil-A is simply another voice, albeit a secular one, on an issue that has been on the American landscape for a long time. By calling it a “conflict” the readers are being set up to identify both a victim and an oppressor.

This strategy is simple – to make all who oppose the gay agenda look as if they are hate-filled and evil. In their thinking, it is unacceptable for anyone to disagree with their agenda.  If you do so, you must be labeled and publicly vilified. In seeking tolerance for themselves, they are utterly intolerant of the beliefs and values of others.  Two men can indeed disagree without either one being accused of “hate.” One can affirm his deeply held religious beliefs without those beliefs being considered “inflammatory.”

To Mr. Shanahan and Mr. Johnson we offer a news flash – the issue is not one of hate, bigotry, or civil rights. The issue is one of morality. Homosexual activity itself, not homosexually-oriented people, is soundly condemned by the three major faiths of the world, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Such activity is condemned because it violates the very nature of God’s design for man.  Even a cursory review of the sacred writings and teachings of all these three religions makes this point abundantly clear. Homosexual actions are sinful and we are all called to avoid sin. As the saying goes, we must “love the sinner and hate the sin.”

Furthermore, to remain consistent with the logic presented in the article, then a campus-wide audit of all philanthropic endeavors of every campus business is called for. Upon which, one would find that Starbucks Corporation has given its unilateral support for the gay rights movement and donates millions to them annually. If Georgia College is really a school which values equality and tolerance, admonishing CFA while supporting Starbucks is in clear violation of our mission as a university.

That article was simply a tool of the culture. The fact that it got top headline status while our letter had to be trimmed from 1,000 words to 400 to fit in “Letters to the Editor” says it all.

Posted by Ryan Shirley on Oct 4 2012. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.