Chick-Fil-A and its Orthodox(?) management

[rusmeister]

So I’m trying to make sense out of the recent controversy, do a little digging, and to my surprise, a central player is Greek Orthodox. Tim Tassopoulos, president and CEO of the company, seems to have had a lot to do with recent decision making, and it appears the decisions were made in order to expand into Canada.

I’ve thought about whether it’s a big deal or not, and have come to the conclusion that it is. Not nearly as big as issues like the EP and the Ukraine, but still far from insignificant, first because a major business whose success has been heavily founded on toeing Christian and traditional lines has reversed course, but because one of the main people involved in that decision is, like it or not, connected to us and is a rather public figure as a result, “private” company or no.

The parish seems to be headed by a priest who has affirmed traditional teaching, so it doesn’t seem as if it’s a case of a rogue parish, but more likely of the individual who sees his faith as “private”, even while he makes decisions that challenge it in public. That’s speculation, so I’m not saying that is certainly the case. Maybe someone else here knows more than me. But it does seem like a defeat, one of many in the general culture war that is slipping ever further away from God (Tolkien’s “Long Defeat”).

 

[FenderTL5]

"..he makes decisions that challenge it (Orthodox faith) in public."
Do you have example(s) of this (or a link)?

 

[ArmyMatt]

yeah, I gotta agree, what problem are you specifically referring to, rus?

 

[All4Christ]

I’m guessing it is this, considering it’s the big Chik-fil-A news

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/5/29/18644354/chick-fil-a-anti-gay-donations-homophobia-dan-cathy

 

[rusmeister]

I’ve found this:
Chick-fil-A Foundation director donated thousands to Obama and Clinton presidential campaigns

That would take at least some heat off of Tassopoulos. Still looks like appeasement politics for the sake of expansion. Not that I think the Salvation Army is a paragon, but shifting from being a company both affirming basic Christian teaching yet having no problem serving anyone to one that is ready to eschew said teaching for the sake of $$$ remains troublesome.

Strange that I should be in Russia and pick this stuff up easily, while some of you should have no clue about it...

 

[prodromos]

Strange that I should be in Russia and pick this stuff up easily, while some of you should have no clue about it...

Three guys making a new speed record driving the "Cannonball run" across the U.S. made headline news in Australia. I'm guessing most in the States probably haven't heard about it.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I’ve found this:
Chick-fil-A Foundation director donated thousands to Obama and Clinton presidential campaigns

That would take at least some heat off of Tassopoulos. Still looks like appeasement politics for the sake of expansion. Not that I think the Salvation Army is a paragon, but shifting from being a company both affirming basic Christian teaching yet having no problem serving anyone to one that is ready to eschew said teaching for the sake of $$$ remains troublesome.

Strange that I should be in Russia and pick this stuff up easily, while some of you should have no clue about it...

but what does that have to do with Tassopoulos? it's about the donations of another guy.

 

[archer75]

The vast majority of people who are nominally Orthodox or otherwise "conservative" Christians don't care about any of this culture stuff, right?

I don't know anything about the Orthodox person mentioned here, but I have trouble seeing this chicken joint switch as anything but "Hey, we can make money associating ourselves with this cultural block" followed by "Hey, looks like we can make more money by doing something different."

Further, their signature sandwich is underwhelming and comes with an embarrassment of a pickle slice, or it did the last time I ate there, many years ago. That seems irrelevant, but to me it's just another piece of evidence that they don't care about reality, only branding.

 

[All4Christ]

Isn’t Dan Cathy the CEO? Or are there multiple CEO positions?


ETA: Looks like Tassopoulos is the COO. It’s an important distinction since the COO executes the vision of the CEO. Of course, I’m sure the COO contributes to the direction of the company, and I am not familiar enough with the dynamics of the company to who is driving decisions.

 

[paul1149]

I'm in the US, I follow conservative rather than the dominant "mainstream" news sites, and I've been very aware of the CFA turnabout. I didn't know of the Orthodox faith of this guy though. I'm not clear on how any heat is taken off of him because of the leanings of the head of the CFA Foundation, since someone had to appoint that Foundation head, and he could have been removed if he had done something important against CFA's core values. But it seems that after all CFA's core value is making money above all else.

 

[rusmeister]

but what does that have to do with Tassopoulos? it's about the donations of another guy.

What I meant is that if someone else is making these decisions, then they’re not Tassopoulos’s decisions. If he’s approving them, that’s another matter.

 

[rusmeister]

The vast majority of people who are nominally Orthodox or otherwise "conservative" Christians don't care about any of this culture stuff, right?

I don't know anything about the Orthodox person mentioned here, but I have trouble seeing this chicken joint switch as anything but "Hey, we can make money associating ourselves with this cultural block" followed by "Hey, looks like we can make more money by doing something different."

Further, their signature sandwich is underwhelming and comes with an embarrassment of a pickle slice, or it did the last time I ate there, many years ago. That seems irrelevant, but to me it's just another piece of evidence that they don't care about reality, only branding.

Maybe you don't know that groups like SPLC are pretty much active enemies of any form of traditional faith, labeling us as “hate groups”. Also, ones like Covenant which affirm and encourage “alternate sexuality” among the people they serve. It would literally be better to fund nobody at all.

 

[Euodius]

Well, I'll pray for him and that he'd remain firm in faith in his position.

Still, let's remember that 97% of corporations are totally in line with the agenda and donating money to sodomite causes. The exceptions are very few. We are seeing the gradually loss of one of the few, but that is to be expected.

However, if you want to rally behind some corporation that hasn't given in - Exxon. It's greasy enough not to care.

 

[Euodius]

Maybe you don't know that groups like SPLC are pretty much active enemies of any form of traditional faith, labeling us as “hate groups”. Also, ones like Covenant which affirm and encourage “alternate sexuality” among the people they serve. It would literally be better to fund nobody at all.

If you have real christian faith, you are already implicitly branded as a 'dangerous hate group' by them.

SPLC is a hate group. A hate group with significant political and social power that it uses for the primary purpose of slander.

 

[ArmyMatt]

What I meant is that if someone else is making these decisions, then they’re not Tassopoulos’s decisions. If he’s approving them, that’s another matter.

do you have any evidence that he is approving them?

 

[rusmeister]

do you have any evidence that he is approving them?

I did say I'm trying to make sense of this, so no, I don't have the secret e-mails, etc, and I don't say "X certainly did Y". I'm trying to understand how something could be done WITHOUT the owners' or CEO's approval.

 

[LizaMarie]

I don't know why they made this decision, but let me just say that the fact they caved with depressing to me. When people start calling the Salvation Army evil, I believe we are in the End Times.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I did say I'm trying to make sense of this, so no, I don't have the secret e-mails, etc, and I don't say "X certainly did Y". I'm trying to understand how something could be done WITHOUT the owners' or CEO's approval.

except he isn't the owner or the CEO. maybe it was just a business decision.

 

[buzuxi02]

They stopped donating to SA but not permanently. They just said they will not donate exclusively to faith based groups and also they are looking to give more towards smaller charities.

 

[rusmeister]

Well, even the Salvation Army has “caved” on accepting the modern self-descriptions as true, the lie that a person “is” “gay”, that is, ontologically, with a normal and natural desire for sexual relations other than God intended.

I’m more bothered that such a “business decision” IS effectively (and obviously to me, intentionally) appeasement of the alphabet soup sexual anarchists. The fact that ANTI-Christian groups, ones that want to drive US into the closet, have been included for support intensifies that.