Staff and wire reports
A Salisbury church is cancelling its Wednesday night service so members can show support for a restaurant chain whose president angered gay rights activists when he said earlier this month the company opposes same-sex marriage.
Leaders at Cornerstone Church, located at 315 Webb Road, expect more than 400 members to gather at Chick-fil-A on East Innes Street to show their support and eat dinner, the church said in a press release.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy angered gay rights advocates earlier this month by saying the company was “guilty as charged” for backing “the biblical definition of a family.” He later added, “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.’”
Gay rights groups urged a boycott and the mayors of New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco spoke out against the chain; Christian conservatives promised to buy chicken sandwiches and waffle fries Wednesday on what they’re calling “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.”
The restaurant chain has long been associated with conservative values and the Cathy family has never hid its Southern Baptist faith. Since Dan Cathy’s father, Truett, opened the first Chick-fil-A in 1967, the restaurants have been closed on Sundays, and the company refused to reconsider during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, sacrificing profits.
It also boasts that the Chick-fil-A Bowl is the only college football bowl game with an invocation.