Chick-Fil-A and the DEI Controversy
CFA has a DEI policy, and some people are losing their minds.
Noted fast food chain Chick-Fil-A has engendered controversy as people realize that the company has a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) policy.
“God’s Chicken” is under fire because DEI is seen as either unfair because its goal is to address lack of opportunity and advancement for People of Color and women.
A lot of objections to DEI, as well as CRT and similar philosophies, are that they are “unchristian.”
Let’s look at “Christian” arguments against DEI.
A Christian Post article explains that DEI is an example of progressivism:
“Progressivism is never inclusive of the Christian worldview. Progressivism seeks to cancel those who believe in the sanctity of marriage, those who believe that our sex/gender is God-given and cannot be changed, and those who believe that one should not be treated according to their skin color. These Christian ideals are pushed out of the spaces that progressives take over.”
And:
“Further concerning, and telling, is the statement that this DEI effort is involved in “everything we do.” So, any claim that there is simply an effort to be inclusive of those who are different is not true. “Everything” includes the company’s beliefs, values, and mission. The same mission that used to be unequivocally Christian.”
The article continues by linking DEI to Critical Race Theory:
“DEI is not Christian. It is rooted in critical theory, which claims that society is to be divided into oppressor/oppressed groups which view people based on their sex, race, sexuality, etc. classifications. So, policies that focus on DEI would, by extension, seek to remedy the “oppressed” groups by giving them advantages. And, when a company makes an effort toward “valuing differences,” as Chick-Fil-A puts it, they are trying to accommodate lived experiences that value one’s perception over objective truth.”
One could spend forever discussing the accuracy of the author’s definition of “progressivism,” and the arguments for and against the other issues referenced in the definition. But for the sake of discussing DEI, let’s focus on the section where the author says:
“Progressivism seeks to cancel …those who believe that one should not be treated according to their skin color.”
Those who the writer would call progressives would argue that people being “cancelled” because they oppress people because of their skin color while claiming that racism doesn’t exist or is almost non-existent.
Next, the idea that society is “to be divided into oppressor/oppressed groups.”
It is a fact, not a claim, that society is divided into oppressor/oppressed groups.
Men have oppressed women.
White men have oppressed everyone.
This oppression is present and likely future tense, not past.
It’s not theoretical.
If this wasn’t laughable enough, the statement that DEI tries to “accommodate lived experiences that value one’s perception over objective truth” is downright hysterical.
If you follow this logic, People of Color should ignore their daily experiences with racism and prejudice.
I believe in God.
I believe that the Bible contains valuable truths.
I believe that Jesus is real and died for everyone because everyone matters.
But it is impossible, and frankly insanity, to live in this world oblivious to injustice.
Racism is not perception.
Prejudice doesn’t care about objective truth.
Faith without work is dead.
Good for Chick-Fil-A for trying to create a fair and equitable workplace.
And shame on anyone who doesn’t understand DEI’s value and necessity.
Preach on, brother T!!!