Eat Mor Chikin



 The Holstein cows have a sense of humor. They dress up as construction workers, flower children, birthday partiers, cheerleaders, football players and shepherds.  A note on the wall of their clubhouse reminds members that September 24th is "Cow Tipping Awareness Day."

Chic-Fil-A Sales Representatives

They wear sandwich boards displaying messages like "Punt the burger, pass the chikin," "Lose that burger belly," "Take a vacashun from beef," and "Eat Mor Chikin."  The spelling needs help but it's been an effective self-serving effort to reduce the number of cows who get eaten.

It's the advertising campaign for Chick-Fil-A, the second largest quick-service chicken purveyor in the U.S.A.  The company is privately owned and infused with the Christian faith of its owners.  Chick-Fil-A's purpose statement reads "That we may glorify God by being a faithful steward in all that is entrusted to our care, and that we might have a positive influence on all the people we come in contact with."

Company president Dan Cathy spoke at Colorado Christian University.  Jean Torkelson reported on Cathy's remarks about staff selection and training. He said "We are a discriminatory employer - unashamedly."  The company interviews prospective employees intensively to determine their values, honesty, integrity, chemistry with others, competence, character and harmony with the company's values.  Forbes Magazine's Emily Schmall reports the company "wants married workers, believing they are more industrious and productive."  It's also an indicator of success: "If a man can't manage his own life, he can't manage a business."

Vetting can take a year and involves multiple interviews.  The company's training manager was initially interviewed seven times and rejected.  After reapplying and enduring 17 more interviews he was hired.  "Bureon Ledbetter, Chick-Fil-A's general counsel, says the company works hard to select people who "fit."  "We want operators who support the values here.""

""Those who (are selected) say they like the member-of-the-club feel. "It is very difficult to get in, but once you're in, you're in for life" says one franchisee. "I tell my people, "I'm not working for Chick-Fil-A, I'm working for the Lord."

The diligence in hiring is effective: only a 3% turnover rate among headquarters staff and store operators and 60% among hourly workers compared to the industry average of 107%.  For the right person with character, motivation but little money Chick-Fil-A offers the opportunity to become a franchisee for $5,000.  By comparison, KFC requires a million dollar net worth and $25,000 in cash.

Financial success has spawned charitable works including a college scholarship foundation, boys and girls camps, fourteen foster homes, and a family center offering marital conferences and programs for families.  All from treating customers with importance, providing service, friendliness, honesty and integrity, giving people encouragement (Cathy asks, "Do you know how to recognize a person who needs encouragement?  If they're breathing") and generally applying biblical principles that include being closed on Sundays.

Chick-Fil-A's extraordinary record demonstrates the effectiveness of timeless biblical concepts in today's fast-paced, technological and demanding business environment.

To meet the cows go to www.chick-fil-a.com then click on "The Cows"


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Modern Martyr

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

What's a peaceful, loving Christian to do when he sees evil?  Mennonites and Quakers are committed pacifists who won't respond with violence.  Churches under Hitler became docile wards of the government that stayed silent to preserve their safety.  But German theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer saw things differently.

Joseph Loconte, reviewing the book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas in The Wall Street Journal notes that amidst the capitulation of churches in the Third Reich, the 27 year-old Bonhoeffer "challenged the legitimacy of a regime that contravened the tenets of Christianity."  He believed German churches were obligated to help the victimized even if they weren't Christians.  He also believed Christians should go further and stop the political/military machine that was persecuting them.

Bonhoeffer was a pacifist until he saw the evil around him and decided to fight it.  He wrote, "Only at the cost of self-deception can observant Christians preserve a facade of private blamelessness clean from the stains of responsible action in the world"  His pacifism withered when he was compelled to demonstrate love for his fellow man by stopping the carnage.

He became a double agent for a military intelligence agency that was home to anti-Hitler conspirators.  In addition to conveying information to the group of resisters, which was called the "Black Orchestra" by the Gestapo, he obtained falsified travel documents and met with foreign officials to pave the way for recognition of a new government once Hitler was deposed.

Bonhoeffer was arrested for misusing state funds to transport Jews out of Germany.  While he was officially charged with embezzlement, the arrest was part of an effort by the secret police to destroy the Black Orchestra.  Later, the Operation Valkyrie attempt to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb narrowly failed and led to the frenzied elimination of anti-Reich elements.  Still imprisoned, Pastor Bonhoeffer's involvement in the conspiracy was uncovered. He was given a perfunctory military trial and sentenced to death.  Like other conspiracy leaders he was stripped and hung from a meat hook on a noose of piano wire as the executions were filmed and used to warn others.

An observer said,"At the place of execution, he said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed...In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God."

Bonhoeffer had stood at a crossroad in Nazi Germany.  Should he stick with his pacifism or actively resist evil that was destroying millions of lives?  He justified Christian resistance this way: "Before other men he is justified by necessity, before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace."

God is graceful, and knowing Dietrich Bonhoeffer's heart He no doubt lovingly embraced him.


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Godless Morality

Cotton-top Tamarin Monkeys

Science - hard nosed, quantifiable indisputable science - is the Holy Grail of popular culture.  Intellectuals seek status, fame and fortune by debunking previously held notions and replacing what they've destroyed with something they've found.  It's presented as truth and accepted as fact.

Dr. Marc Hauser, PH.D. was a renowned scholar at Harvard University in the field of evolutionary psychology.  He theorized that morality is the result of evolutionary processes rather than being given by God.

He co-authored "Godless Morality" with Peter Singer in 2006, stating "It is important for us to be aware of the universal set of moral intuitions so that we can reflect on them and, if we choose, act contrary to them.  We can do this without blasphemy, because it is our own nature, not God, that is the source of our morality."

In other words, even though these "moral intuitions" theoretically developed for good reason over eons, it's OK to violate them because they're not from God.  It's impressive that moral relativism, where morals are personal and subjective, is supported by such an elite source.

Well, not so elite anymore.  Hauser somehow supported his theory by watching endangered cotton-top monkeys, little critters about the size of a squirrel.  He was convicted of scientific misconduct in 2010 by Harvard after it was proved he had manipulated data.  The dishonesty was revealed when graduate students under his tutelage suspected fraud and blew the whistle.

The case became known because it was partially  federally funded (who knows why the feds would fund this, but that's another question) and the agency made it public.  Otherwise, according to Michael D. Smith, Dean of Harvard's faculty of Arts and Sciences, the usual sanctions could have included:

1.  Correcting the papers called into question.

2.  Involuntary leave.

3.  Additional oversight on other research.

4.  Restricting applications for research grants.

5.  Restricting contact with students.

Notice that publicizing the conduct isn't on the list.

Harvard considers sanctions for scientific misconduct to be confidential, so in non-federally funded studies fraudulent papers are quietly corrected, penalties are secret and the public is left believing the publicized original conclusions.

In the end, Hauser's predispositon against faith will undoubtedly find voice at Harvard or whatever other academic institution hires him.  And those who naively believe he's objective will be nudged toward skepticism of God.

Colleges tend to be anti-faith hotbeds.  If Harvard University buries wrongdoing out of sight, you have to wonder how much other "hard nosed, quantifiable, indisputable" - but biased and wrong - notions about faith enjoy credibility from academic communities.

All of this is apparently OK when you construct morals that ignore God. The institutions might even justify their slap-on-the-wrist mentality by seeing such violations as victimless crimes.  After all, the only thing damaged is the truth.

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Role Reversal

Like other players in the National Football League, Plaxico Burress sometimes pointed skyward after scoring a touchdown.  Amidst the crowd's cheers it was a silent show of respect to God and a departure from the self-absorbed antics of some peers.

In February, 2008 Plax scored the last-minute game-winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII.  He was a champion at the top of his game and was showered with adoration in a Manhattan ticker tape (actually "computer printout") parade with the rest of his team.  I was there with my son, Drew, and thousands of other fans.

Nine months later he stuck a loaded .40-caliber handgun in the elastic waistband of his sweat pants and went drinking at the Latin Quarter nightclub.  He shot himself in the thigh when the weapon accidentally discharged, ending both his season and his career with the New York Giants.

Worse, he had violated gun laws and was sentenced to two years in prison.  At Rikers Island he was greeted with the jeers of inmates who yelled insults as he was put into protective custody.  As Laura Italiano and Kevin Fasick of the New York Post wrote, he "got a zero's welcome."  Cheers to jeers, hero to zero: a classic role reversal.

Players like this can present a problem for the press and for Christians.  Reporters are reluctant to report on matters of faith partly because they're not sure how serious players are about it.  And it's difficult for the faithful to explain hypocritical behavior by ersatz "Christians."

Burress exemplifies this.  After scoring the Super Bowl touchdown he knelt, pointed up to God and later gave glory to Him for helping him overcome his knee, ankle and back problems.  But his long history of being late for team meetings, missing practice, nonpayment of debts and taxes, numerous motor vehicle violations, twice being slapped with restraining orders by his wife, and various other episodes had put him in the "not sure how serious his faith is" category.

When reporters know their subjects have genuine faith they often acknowledge it.  Kurt Warner, a two-time NFL MVP is one.  So are coaches Tony Dungee, Lovey Smith and Mike Singletary.  They're all self-effacing guys whose faith defines who they are.  They walk the walk and are respected for it.

"Walking the walk" impresses people even if they don't understand it.  Christians who live their faith are its best representatives because they exemplify higher standards.  On the other hand, those who claim to be Christian but behave otherwise are either frauds or are in a struggle to overcome their weaknesses.  In either case, they don't represent the faith.  Generally, the longer we're Christians the closer we follow the ideals.  If Plax is really a Christian he's more toward the "beginner" end than Kurt, Tony, Lovey or Mike.

The sporting press was fair in not publicizing Plax's purported faith earlier on and also in refraining from taking cheap shots at Christianity later.  Our hats should be off to them.

Burress's winning catch and gestures to God can be viewed at http://vodpod.com/watch/949227-plaxico-burress-superbowl-touchdown

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