Dear Chick-fil-A;

I see you’re considering opening a store in Seattle. That might be a problem. This piece, for example, says that you might have problems because of your owner’s intolerance of gay rights. Certainly, the hateful nature of his opposition to gay rights is disquieting in a city that favors such rights. That said, it’s fortunate that KIRO 7 managed to avoid the trap of presuming that because he’s a Christian, he opposes gay rights.

Sure, Washington consistently ranks among the least religious states in the country. But in a country that’s 85% Christian, a relatively secular city in a relatively secular state is still overwhelmingly Christian. The Seattle Christians tend believe that love your neighbor bits are more important than some clobber verses here and there. And Seattle Christians tend to say that the Biblical injunction against gay people isn’t particularly strong anyway. And Seattle Christians realize that when you bring up Sodom as proof that God hates same sex relationships, for example, the case isn’t as strong as you make it out to be.

So yes, sales will probably be lower than they might be in places with a more hateful interpretation of the Bible, because some folks from Seattle — Christian and otherwise — don’t want to support that sort of hate. But the real problem you’ll find is that Seattle has Ezell’s. Trying to compete in Seattle on fried chicken makes no damn sense. Seriously, try some Ezell’s before you open, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and effort.

Love,

Carl Ballard

The hat tip for the linked piece goes to Ivan on Facebook.