A Christian-owned fast food company has been compared to pornography by a US university leader, in a bid to ban the company from campus.
Chick-fil-A’s corporate purpose is to “glorify God”. It protects staff wellbeing by closing on Sundays and donates to Christian causes, including the Salvation Army.
Thomas Gutierrez claimed the donations go against his university’s values, and so the fast food chain should be kicked out. Other faculty members backed him, but the university has so far rejected the idea.
Violation
Gutierrez, an Academic Senate Vice Chair at California Polytechnic State University, said: “We don’t sell pornography in the bookstore”, adding: “This is a similar thing.”
He continued, “every dollar a student is spending at Chick-fil-A, is going to these causes that are in violation of our values”.
A resolution to remove Chick-fil-A was then passed.
Intolerant
However, university spokesman Matt Lazier rejected the idea, saying that “would be its own form of censorship and intolerance”.
“Inclusion means upholding the rights of others to have different perspectives and ensuring there is space in our community for differing viewpoints and ideologies, even those that may be in direct conflict with our own.”
Last year, the university renewed a long-term relationship with Chick-fil-A by signing a five-year contract.
Salvation Army
According to tax records from 2017, the fast food company’s charitable arm gave over $1.5 million to a Christian sports group and $150,000 to the Salvation Army.
Inclusion means upholding the rights of others to have different perspectives and ensuring there is space in our community for differing viewpoints and ideologies, even those that may be in direct conflict with our own.
The company’s corporate purpose is listed as: “To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A.”
It has maintained the practice of operating six days a week since it opened its first shop in 1946.
Founder Truett Cathy “saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees could set aside one day to rest and worship if they choose”, Chick-fil-A’s website says.