New York Launches War on Chick-fil-A

This article originally appeared in The American Spectator on December 20, 2023 and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Aubrey Gulick

You’ve probably heard of the war on Christmas — you know, the decades-long attempt by our secular overlords to make Christmas about all the shiny toys under the tree that will inevitably break by the end of the week. Having achieved a fair amount of success in that department, the same secular liberals are now seeking to force Chick-fil-A, America’s favorite Christian fast-food joint, to comply with their desire for waffle fries and fried chicken on Sundays.

This week, New York state Rep. Tony Simone introduced Bill A08336, which would require any restaurant serving travelers at transportation facilities and state-run rest areas to remain open all seven days of the week. Why? Convenience.

“When it comes to travel areas, like rest stops, bus stations, and airports, people are often traveling on Sundays, and so it doesn’t make any sense for one of the few restaurants available at these locations to be closed on one of the busiest travel days of the week,” a spokesperson for Simone told Business Insider. The argument seems to be that as New York state has been gracious enough to grant nine Chick-fil-A restaurants a presence in the state’s Thruway rest stops; therefore, they should return the favor by remaining open on Sundays — something the restaurant’s founder, S. Truett Cathy, decided to stop doing back in the late 1940s.

“To serve New Yorkers and travelers, things should be open seven days a week, including Chick-fil-A, and if they can’t they shouldn’t be in our rest stops. There should be options for people to eat and drink and not just one spot,” Simone told the New York Post. “It simply makes no sense for any provider of food services in these busy travel plazas to be closed on Sundays.”

If the bill is passed and Chick-fil-A sues New York for religious discrimination, a court case should be a walk in the park. A statement on the company’s website reads: “Having worked seven days a week in restaurants open 24 hours, Truett saw the importance of closing on Sundays so that he and his employees could set aside one day to rest or worship if they choose, a practice we uphold today.” The company’s decision to abide by the divine order to refrain from servile labor on the Sabbath is clearly at issue here — and, according to the New York Post, it may not be the only Christian practice that annoys Simone about the restaurant.

The Left attacked the company back in 2012 for donating millions of dollars to anti-LGBTQ organizations, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes — and its response was to ignore them (something the Left never likes). When the Post asked Simone if the company’s history of supporting anti-woke organizations was a motivation, the assemblyman replied: “Chick-fil-A has had a terrible record on LGBT rights. I’m not going to not say that clearly.” 

In one sense, a single bill being introduced (not yet passed) to force a fast-food chain to keep nine of its thousands of restaurants open on Sunday might be a petty thing to get riled up about. But the problem is that the bill attacks a principle: the Christian principle that Christian business owners should be able to close their stores on Sundays whether or not it’s convenient for potential customers. Simone’s petty bill may be another skirmish in the Left’s war to de-Christianize the U.S., but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. To claim victory in a war, you have to win both the major battles and the skirmishes.

Copyright 2023 The American Spectator