Thursday night, for a variety of tedious reasons, we ended up having dinner inside a Chik-Fil-A.
Gary started reading his phone (rude) and of course that launched a political rant about Republicans and how corrupt they are.
Gary: [boring rant edited for time and content] ” … and that’s why all Republicans are corrupt.”
Me: “Stop. Listen to yourself. Stop saying ‘all’ and ‘every’. You sound small-minded. You can’t lump people like that.”
Gary: (louder) “YES I CAN. BECAUSE ALL REPUBLICANS ARE CORRUPT.” This he says INSIDE a Chik-Fil-A.
I’m sure all the other patrons in earshot began praying for him immediately.
4 responses to “Small-Minded Dogma at Chick-Fil-A”
I don’t really know what Chick-Fil-A’s customer base’s usual theology is (not a Chick-Fil-A person), but if universal depravity is the norm, then “all Republicans are corrupt” would be technically accurate, if a bit specific (as “all people who own a goldfish are corrupt” would be technically accurate, as would “all people who don’t own a goldfish are corrupt”).
(I tend to go for universal depravity, given the observation of all-observed-humans-being-stinkers-sometimes-including-me, but not maximal universal depravity, whatever that’s called. I once heard a quote which was more or less “there’s always another puppy you could have kicked,” and that makes sense to me.)
That said, specifically mentioning Republicans probably meant people wouldn’t have been thinking theology so much as group culture (a mistake many make much of the time, sigh). So. Yes. Probably some… concern… was elicited.
KC- Chik-Fil-A’s company policy would be that there is Original Sin, and we are all corrupt, both Republicans and Democrats, but Republicans are most likely born again and sanctified.
Ah; so, if completed sanctification rather than progressive sanctification… I think I grasp that? (Although I would expect a completed-sanctification-at-conversion-with-no-more-sin-in-this-life viewpoint to be… not supported… by human experience and observation as well?)
The theoretical proximity of the categories of “Republican” and “Christian” is… well, something I find increasingly perplexing, given both the individuals involved (with their actions) and the “official platforms” being rather divergent on a significant number of central topics. But such is life.
KC – Well, that’s the flaw with the whole born-again system – which I was wholeheartedly-for when I was in high school and most of college – you can be as evil as you like before and after your conversion.