Chick-Fil-A & the Man Upstairs

Another departure from stoner rock, marijuana, rock bands, concerts, guitars, and politics, Firebirds & Chargers, or books, movies or TV shows, back to something more mundane, FOOD and RELIGION. 

Those who know me well, know my preference for fast food.   Lately Chipotle has been a preference, along with Roy Rogers and Jersey Mike’s.   But there’s a new preference emerging:  CHICK-FIL-A.

I’d known about it for some time and ignored it.  I don’t consider myself chicken-preferred, though at McDonald’s I ignore their Quarter Pounder and Big Mac in favor of McNuggets and Select Strips.  At Wendy’s I likewise avoid the burgers they’re famous for and stick with the nuggets.  However, my Mom & Sister recently converted me to the CFA cult, and it’s two major items which do so:

1.         Waffle Fries.  I love these.   Not to the exclusion of the thick fries from Roy’s or the steak juice flavored small things from McDonald’s.  But these are definitely awesome.  I dip them in ketchup.

2.         Grilled chicken bites.  More awesomeness, dipped in barbecue sauce.   I’m not a fan of chicken sandwiches, so yet again I’m avoiding the chain’s signature food for something less common.  About as close you can get chicken to taste like steak, this is it.  Love them.

Sunday.   Everyone goes on about how the place is closed on Sunday, and how the owner S. Truett Cathy and his family are devout Southern Baptists and believe in keeping the (Black) Sabbath sacred.  Just like how McGoldberg’s – you know, all that traditional Jewish fast food everyone loves - is closed on Saturday and Habib’s – are they Sunni or Shi’ite?  No clue - is closed on Friday.  But the funny thing is that this Sunday closing is the only religious thing I can tell about it.  I don’t see Jesus Burgers, Mary Fries, Moses McNuggets, or any other indications that the Cathy family are surreptitiously trying to get us to worship God and go to church on Sunday because damn it, we can’t eat our beloved chicken on that day so we might as well default to going to mass instead – which I’d find plausible if any church served waffle fries and Coke for communion, and of course we know otherwise.   And that’s fine. 

Ned Flanders.  Consider the Simpsons character:  a devout Christian (what IS his denomination??) who tries his best to live a good life and raise his two clueless sons accordingly notwithstanding the absence of anyone else in the entire town of Springfield who shares his devotion, even Reverend Lovejoy himself.  And of course his next door neighbor is far away from him in behavior, even if – remarkably enough – they attend the same church.  This leaves Krusty (Jewish) and Apu (Hindu) as the only ones out of the mix, so it seems literally the entire town is the SAME Christian denomination, apparently a Protestant one as Lovejoy has a wife. 

But as flabbergasted and frustrated as Flanders is with Homer, you never see him trying to convert anyone or judge anyone.  He minds his own business and does his best to keep his family in line. 

I’m Catholic.   I was baptized and confirmed and my Dad was a Catholic priest who got an honorable discharge from the Vatican back in the mid-60s and was allowed – fortunately for my mom, myself and my brother and sister – to start a family.  I go to church every Sunday and except for a brief time of my life when I’d drunk the Ayn Rand Objectivist Kool-Aid and wasn’t so devout, continue to do so.   Whether other people do or do not, is their own business and not mine.  Whether whichever church I happen to be in on Sunday is cram packed (unlikely) or only half full (more plausible) doesn’t matter much to me. 

I’m also American.  And I believe our religious beliefs, or lack thereof, are our own particular business. While the majority of Americans are Christian, not all of them are (the much-feared Muslims are 1% of the population, well below Jews and atheists).  The Founding Fathers themselves were Christians, but they were deists:  they believed God created the Universe way back when but set it on its way and is content to allow us to live our lives.  They expressly rejected any idea of making this a theocracy even to the point of insisting on the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.  If you want to live in a theocracy your choices are the Vatican City or Iran – even Israel isn’t a theocracy.  If you want your kids educated in religion, send them to private school AND/OR bring them to church on Sunday, but in public schools religion is off limits.  

  

 I like that Chick-Fil-A limits its religiousness to closing on Sunday and is otherwise content to allow Catholics, atheists, Jews and Muslims to eat there, no questions asked.  So AMEN to Chick-Fil-A and God Bless America.