David French of National Review Online ties the latest Chick-fil-A controversy to a broader culture war.
Every single time I grow even slightly more optimistic about the state of American polarization and the prospects for true American tolerance, I get disappointed. Every time I think that we could perhaps see the light at the end of the tunnel of the culture wars, I’m reminded that it’s just another oncoming train. And at the risk of saturating readers with analysis of the renewed Chick-fil-A controversy, I think it’s worth describing why this latest revival of hatred for a chicken restaurant is an ominous harbinger of an even more divisive national cultural debate.
For those few readers who haven’t followed the latest twists in the chicken wars, after ThinkProgress reported that the Chick-fil-A Foundation donated to the Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and a Christian home for troubled youth, the city council of San Antonio voted to block the restaurant from opening in the San Antonio airport. Shortly thereafter, the concessions vendor for the airport in Buffalo, N.Y., also moved to block Chick-fil-A.
I’ve written previously that any government efforts to block Chick-fil-A from opening are flagrantly unconstitutional, but I’m actually more concerned about three other aspects of the current controversy. Progressive intolerance is now directed at conventional Christian ministries (not just culture-war organizations), intolerance is driven by the progressive grassroots, and progressive corporations and governments are increasingly on an activist search-and-destroy mission against wrongthink.
