Chick-fil-A Founder’s Death leads to Nasty Comments

Tributes to Chick-fil-A’s founder from the non-judgmental, tolerant left.

Truett Cathy, Chick-fil-A founder, died Monday at age 93. With hard work, discipline, and dedication, he turned a single Atlanta diner into a popular restaurant chain and household name. He rose from poverty to riches.

Cathy opened his first restaurant in 1946, just after returning from serving his country in World War II. Today, Chick-fil-A has nearly 2,000 outlets in 39 states.

All along, the man was faithful to his business, his family, and his God. You would think that his life’s story would elicit nothing but praise. But if you think that, then you don’t live in modern America — that is, today’s fundamentally transformed America.

Cathy, you see, was a devout Christian, a Baptist, as is his son, Dan, who inherited the chain. They’re so faithful to their Biblical precepts that their many restaurants are closed on Sundays. That’s what they believe their Bible commends. The Cathy family has faith-based principles, and sticks to them.

Among those principles is the timeless Biblical view of marriage. When Christ ordained that a man and a woman leave their parents and become one flesh in a holy matrimonial bond, the Cathy family took that seriously, as have endless peoples since the dawn of humanity — until literally just a few years ago. Modern Americans believe they have the right to change the meanings of words whenever they want. They don’t care if their ancestors — what G. K. Chesterton called “the democracy of the dead” — acknowledged marriage as based on the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God. They are completely content to redefine a sacred institution that billions before them would never dare try to redefine.

The Cathy family believes it isn’t their right to redefine marriage. They would be rejecting their God. And so, they support Biblical-natural-traditional marriage — i.e., marriage. Dan Cathy, the son of S. Truett, had the temerity to affirm that he believes in historic marriage. And for this unpardonable sin, the American left went wild. They organized national boycotts of Chick-fil-A, blocked doors, and held gay “kiss-ins” inside the restaurant. The champions of “tolerance” and “diversity” only tolerate things they agree with. If you don’t agree with them on gay marriage, there will be hell to pay.

All of this recent history is well known, of course. But it reared its ugly head again this week when the 93-year-old Cathy passed away.

“Chick-fil-A founder dies … provoked controversy on gay-marriage,” said the headline in the Washington Post, as if Cathy’s position on marriage — the shared opinion of over 99% of earth’s inhabitants since the dawn of humanity — is provocative.

But that was mild compared to the readers’ comments that followed the Post’s obituary.

The first comment came from an incensed reader who demanded to know why the Post had not described the 93-year-old as a “bigot” and “homophobe.”

Another reader, identified as “John in Cathedral Heights,” wrote of Cathy’s passing: “Thank goodness. As I always think to myself whenever I encounter bigoted, hateful, OLD Christians, ‘They’re not long for this world.’”

Charlie from McLean was equally respectful: “What great news! And when he gets to heaven and they won’t let him in because he discriminated against gays[,] wonder what he’ll think then?”

Another loving liberal chimed in: “I will not say the usual thing about resting in peace concerning this hateful man. I believe the son of God is now judging him unworthy of eternal peace.”

Keep in mind that these people consider S. Truett Cathy to be the judgmental, hateful one. Not them.

“He lived to 93,” wrote another denouncer of hate. “Why is it that wicked hate filled people live the longest?”

Said another compassionate liberal: “Good riddance to the Christian-trash-bag.”

And another: “Let US All Celebrate One LESS Bigot on the Planet.”

Finally, this from “John” (I’ll leave out his last name): “Bigotry is bigotry. He can RIH [Rest in Hell], along with his bigoted son.”

Ah, no bigotry from John. He clearly tolerates all people of all points of view. I wonder if he feels that his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents and great-great-great-grandparents and great-great-great-great-grandparents and great-great-great-great-great-grandparents are all resting in hell with S. Truett Cathy. I got some shocking news for you, John: They, too, believed in marriage between one man and one woman. I guess they were also hell-destined bigots. Praise be to God that you live in a more enlightened time. You’ll be spared their flames.

Those are just a few assessments by readers — and merely at one site, the Washington Post. You can imagine the comments at even more liberal websites. They are obscene, too nasty (and too depressing) to repeat here. As they accuse the Chick-fil-A founder of all sorts of monstrous hate, they don’t even notice that they hate on him with unbridled, unmatched torrent.

If they could dance (or worse) on his grave, I’m sure they’d be dashing out their front doors.

And why? What merited this? What was S. Truett Cathy’s unforgivable sin in the eyes of secular progressives? It’s simple: Cathy and his family continued to support the Biblical conception of marriage that has existed since the Garden of Eden — that even Barack Obama and the Clintons and the entirety of the Democratic Party once supported. As a devout Christian, Cathy refused to take the incredibly audacious step of redefining something that he believes his God never gave him the right to redefine. For that, S. Truett Cathy is an eternal demon of the American Left, now roasting in their version of hell — another Biblical precept they’ve unhesitatingly redefined to their own liking.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cathy. May you be remembered and rewarded for your hard work and good works, and not the vicious castigations of your uncharitable, unthoughtful tormentors.

This piece was originally run in The American Spectator.

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