The Patriot Post® · A Sermon on the Truth

I was in the crowd at Chattanooga’s First Presbyterian Church recently when Pastor Tim Tinsley, in painting the difference between “objective truth” and “subjective truth,” perked me up when he used Chick-fil-A restaurants as a perfect example. The Reverend explained that too often we human beings replace what is “objective” with what is “subjective” in the way we live and look at things, especially in this day and time.

Real quickly, objective information is based on pure fact. It is information we can see, hear, touch, feel or taste. It is as close to the truth as we can get. Subjective information, on the other hand, is based on opinion, assumption, belief, rumor and suspicion. Sometimes it turns out to be false and is able to take on a life of its own.

It is pretty easy to decide which kind we want to learn but it is also pretty obvious that the subjective variety can get in the mix pretty quickly on virtually any topic – including my favorite fast-food restaurant. Understand, I try to eat at least once a week at a Chick-fil-A restaurant because I adore everything about it. The food is good, the service excellent and each location is impeccable.

To illustrate what can happen when subjective information gets the upper hand over objective truth, Rev. Tinsley reminded his congregation that Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based fast-food chain that is universally recognized as perhaps the best overall in the country, was brutally bashed earlier this year when an operator of an independently-owned franchise store provided food for a group known as the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI).

It turned out the PFI, a political action group whose goal is to strengthen families, has opposed gay marriages and the liberal national media has since had a field day, accusing the 1,536-store chain of being “anti-gay” and heavily criticizing its policy of being closed on Sundays. Some have called Chick-fil-A’s main staple as “Jesus Chicken” and a few weeks ago, when a new store opened in Salt Lake City, pro-gay demonstrators were on hand.

Rev. Tinsley’s example was perfect. Chick-fil-A has 50,000 employees today and if there is a better American story than that of founder S. Truett Cathy’s success and philanthropy I have yet to hear it. When the news erupted that the gay community was mad because the operator of the Pennsylvania store had donated food in a charitable way, Mr. Cathy’s son Dan, now the CEO of the chain, quickly appeared in a video.

He said that while he and the Cathy family believe in the “Biblical definition of marriage,” they still love and respect those who disagree and did not consider the free meals to be an endorsement of the Pennsylvania Family Institute or its mission. He even volunteered to walk in an AIDs benefit and promptly won his age group!

“We’re very pro the traditional family of a husband and a wife in marriage, parenting children,” the younger Cathy said in one interview. “We are not politicians and we don’t want to get into having a political voice here, but we support, financially and otherwise, organizations that are going to be strengthening society and raising young men and women that are of the character that we would want (working) in our restaurants.”

Ironically, an article that appeared in the respected Consumer Reports magazine recently confirmed Chick-fil-A as America’s top fast-food chain for chicken. The ratings were based on a survey of 36,733 subscribers and while McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell got a whipping, Chick-fil-A was the best in its class.

In other words, in the face of subjective information that spread a black cloud over one of the greatest quick-service chains in the country, the Consumer Reports article was objective enough for me to realize that one operator’s innocent donation to a pro-family organization should have never been an issue for my favorite fast-food franchise. But that’s what happened.

With more media influences than ever before, it is easy to fall for subjective information when we need to be more objective. Rev. Tinsley said that’s what happened to the Children of Israel a real long time ago and he fears the same thing is happening too much today. He begged us to speak out so the truth can be heard – the objective kind – and, in doing so, praised Chick-fil-A for all that the company does to better our America.

He also said his sermon was the first of four on the origins of Christmas Carols and while that was pretty much lost on me, I loved his lesson on objective versus subjective. Now if only I can be careful enough to live it in the way that S. Truett Cathy has made famous.