The Temple of Chick-fil-A

I like Chick-fil-A.

Their chicken sandwich is the best chicken sandwich in the fast food world - by far. None can compare.  None others do I crave.

The first time I had a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich was when I worked in downtown Atlanta in the late eighties.  They had a location in the Omni.  My first impression was not positive.  I prefer dark meat to white, and it looked terribly dry.  Like it or not, I'm a condiment guy, and I did not like how you had to beg for two little packs of ketchup (to be shared for sandwich and fries alike).  Not my favorite - a dried up gag-in-your throat piece of white meat.  Nevertheless, it was better than I anticipated.

Over the years, with better access to ketchup, the flavor grew on me, to the point that I now crave it.

Their service is above par for a fast food restaurant.  The staff is friendly and accommodating.  They are paid and treated better, at least within the standards of the industry.  Some of their employees can earn towards scholarships.

I like Chick-fil-A.

But I don't worship Chick-fil-A.

It's a good restaurant.  It has some tasty items.  But I don't talk about it in the reverent tones that some around me do.

I think you can be a "Christian restaurant"  without being a restaurant designed to primarily to appeal to the Christian right.  So, some of the stuff seems a little forced and over the top to me.

They have every right to close on any day that they want.  Hopefully, they recognize that not everyone's Holy Day is Sunday.  Not even for every Christian (Seventh Day Adventists, for example).  I do confess, the psychological effect for me is that much of my craving for a Chick-fil-A sandwich occurs on Sunday.  And they are a primary vendor at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where most of the games occur on...Sunday.

Yes, they still discriminate in their charity spending, favoring Christian right groups, including those that promote discrimination of the LGBTQ community.

The franchising of their restaurants is done with a system designed to favor Christian right applicants, and weed out those that may not be sufficiently inclined that way.

I can't speak to their employee hiring practices, although it can't be pleasant for those who stand outside the Christian right norm.

Most often, their friendliness seems sincere, but occasionally it comes across as Stepford Wife-ish.  Or Handmaid's Tale-ish.  "Blessed be the fruit!"

Their pay is on the upside of the industry, but they are not industry leaders.  Other chains like In-N-Out Burger or Shake Shack do better (Chick-fil-A is usually not number one on most lists, but it almost always appears in the top ten).  No chain pays a living wage, and that is a huge problem in this country.

So, to me, Chick-fil-A is a good restaurant.  Not perfect, but what is in this world?

It is certainly not a temple of worship.  God is present there only in the sense that God is present everywhere,

I go there to get a great chicken sandwich, not to be enveloped into a Christian restaurant, along with Christian radio stations, Christain movies, Christian craft stores - just to name a few.

God is everywhere and in everything.  God does not need an exclusivity zone.

They do need to make sure they have plenty of ketchup, though.