I found out that the AFA (American Family Association) has called for a boycott of McDonald's (you can read about it here) because McDonald's has joined the national Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. I, as a family-friendly, socially-moderate, theologically-conservative follower of Jesus, think we should boycott this boycott.
Why?
Because I like McDonald's fries.
OK, not really. I actually do not like Mickey-D's and haven't eaten there in years. The real reason is that I think the boycott is counter productive to actually advancing the gospel in our culture. Boycotts, and more importantly the mindset behind them, are actually turning the cultural tide against the progress of the gospel.
The AFA clearly sees this as a battle in a culture war. On the AFA’s boycott website, they state:
“[This boycott] is about McDonald's, as a corporation, refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald's has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage.”
I think the "culture warfare" paradigm is wrong place to the best way to approach this complex issue.
First: our goal is not to defeat the homosexual agenda. Our goal is to see the
Our goal is to bring the gospel in its revolutionary power into culture.
So, I am thinking, our strategies need to be thought out from a missional perspective, not from a "cultural warfare" perspective. If we don't carefully evaluate our strategies, we might end up winning the battle and losing the war.
As missionaries to
What if by boycotting we are gaining a few specific policy changes in a few specific companies, but are losing the respect of the broader culture (not the homosexual agenda warriors, but the average Joe on the street), we may actually be increasing the counter-flow of the broader culture against our position (and, by association, against Christ).
People are tired of the “culture war” and have come to see Christians as hard-nosed and arrogant moralists. I know some of you will cry foul and say that I am arguing we shouldn't stand for truth or that I am arguing for passivity. That is not what I am saying at all. I am simply saying there may be a better paradigm for approaching this. A better way to see the
What if we engage our culture, not as an enemy, but as a common field of interaction. Strategically. What if we start having intelligent conversations with people who are far from God, earning their respect as fair minded people who are concerned not about victory but the welfare of our city (Jer. 29:7)? What if we start showing people the logic of the gospel applied to cultural assumptions?
Comments
Steve, it is so refreshing to see your socially-aware response to this boycott. In my past I have been surrounded by people who pretend the church is already in heaven (forget the new earth) and the last thing we have to do is clean up this place of all sinners and we can finally pull up to window #2 and pick up our eternal Order.
But it isn't always a bad thing if done for ethical reasons that we can all agree upon...for example, the Montgomery Bus Boycott.