Hooray For McDonalds

In May, I reported my objection to a plan by the McDonalds company to donate money to an organization seeking the legalization of so-called gay marriage in the United States. One member of McDonalds' governing board, himself a homosexual, appeared to be largely responsible for the donation.

Many, including me, objected on the grounds that a corporation such as McDonalds needed to be neutral in an area as controversial as this one is. Not everyone is convinced that it is legitimate to give legal marriage status to non-traditional couples. After all, the definition of marriage for thousands of years has been a legal relationship between people of the opposite sex, one of the objectives being reproduction, something gay couples can never do.

My wife and I did choose to eat less often at McDonalds, but we chose not to be involved in a boycott of the giant restaurant chain, especially since our vacation trip (reported here on this blog) was about to begin and the thought of spending two weeks on the road without McDonalds was a little overwhelming.

But now I read that McDonalds has changed its mind and decided to remain neutral on the issue. Also, the board member who promoted the decision in the first place is no longer on the board.

I am so glad. Now, once again, I can eat a Big Mac and not feel like I am supporting something I cannot endorse. That Big Mac may or may not clog my arteries. But it will no longer clog my conscience.

Photo: The McDonalds in Wolf Point, Montana, our refuge in a rain storm in July of 2008 on our trip to the northwestern United States.

West 2008: Sunday, July 20, 2008

The top of the world! That’s where we felt we were in this day that was truly a highlight of our trip.

We began the day in Great Falls, Montana and ended it 237 miles later in Kalispell, Montana. And in between was perhaps the most spectacular of all of America’s national parks.

Before entering the park that was on our agenda for the day, we viewed some of its mountains from a valley filled with a meadow teaming with life. We also saw up close the damage done by a recent fire.

We entered Glacier National Park at its eastern entrance near St. Mary, Montana. After stopping at the Visitor Center there, we headed west on the famous Going-To-The-Sun Highway.

This highway is a monument to human invention. Considering it was laid out and built in the late 1920s and early 1930s, it is a wonder it could even be built. A two-lane wide ledge had to be blasted out of the sides of the mountains, graded and paved. Adequate drainage had to be planned and installed. And all of this in an area that is covered in eight feet of snow each year for nine or ten months of each year.

But a greater wonder from a far greater Creator than man are the mountains themselves. Sheer walls of rock plant their feet firmly in forests of pine trees and stick their snowy heads up into the sky. Only God could create scenes like these.

Two large glacier lakes lie along side Going-To-The-Sun highway. The first we encountered was St. Mary Lake. We found a quiet picnic area to enjoy our lunch, then walked a few feet down to the shore of the lake.

Tiny Wild Goose Island sits in the middle of St. Mary Lake, its smallness providing a sharp contrast to the huge backdrop of mountains.

One of the highlights of the day, and perhaps one I wish my honesty did not compel me to relate, occurred 6,646 feet above sea level, at Logan Pass. We were on the Continental Divide at this point as we parked in the Visitor Center parking lot.

A friend of Linda’s who had recently made her own trip to Glacier told Linda to be sure to take the trail at Logan Pass. She said it offered spectacular views and that we would probably see lots of wildlife from it.

Okay. I enjoy hiking and Linda and I have hiked in many places over the forty years we have been husband and wife. So I thought little of setting out on the trail, camera in hand.

Five days beyond the middle day of July, snow still managed an obvious presence in the scenes that lay before us as we set out, with many other visitors, on the trail that led straight out from the Visitor Center. The early part of the trail was easy, given that it ran first on a paved walkway and then on a wooden boardwalk past alpine meadows that seemed in sharp contrast to the white that lay ahead in our path.

I began to be a little apprehensive. Even though I was raised in Michigan where snow is not uncommon, I had never mastered the art of walking down a snow-covered slope. Walking up was a challenge to me, but walking down was more than a challenge. It was an accident waiting to happen.

We crossed two or three snow patches, then decided that at our ages, it was probably not prudent to proceed further on a snow-covered trail that was going higher and higher up the side of a mountain. In spite of the advice from Linda’s friend, we decided to turn around and return to the area at the Visitor Center.

But there was one fairly long patch of snow lying on the downward slope of our path between us and the Visitor Center. We set out across it, Linda in front and me following and many other walkers nearby. I stepped carefully, but the downward slope and the slippery snow beneath me caused me to tumble forwards, bringing Linda down with me into the snow. Unhurt, except for my pride, I held the camera high to protect it during the fall.

Remind me not to walk downslope in snow again.

But there were pleasant things to compensate for my slip in the snow, things like bighorn sheep walking sure-footed on the very snow that was my downfall. And extraordinary views of giant slabs of rock sporting mantles of snow.

From Logan Pass we continued west on the Going-To- The-Sun-Road toward Big Bend where the road sweeps through a gentle curve alongside a spectacular valley which falls away from the road along the rock face known as the Garden Wall. Here we drove under cascading meltwater that tumbled onto the concrete and splashed over our car.

The Going-to-The-Sun road was undergoing some needed repairs and reconstruction, so we ran into orange barrels at several thousand feet above sea level on a narrow ledge that was blasted out of solid rock nearly eighty years ago. Even in the construction areas, however, there were spectacular views of the glaciers, the mountains that sported them and the valleys that lay peacefully at their feet.

Lake McDonald, the second of the two huge glacier lakes along the highway, provided a late afternoon end to our journey. Before leaving the park, we stopped at Apgar Village on the west end, and then on to our night’s lodging in Kalispell. Tomorrow we would face another milestone on our trip, but one with more impact on our emotions than on our senses.

Photo: Glacier National Park, Montana. Bighorn sheep at Logan Pass.

I Don't Hate Anyone

McDonalds has made its response to the Christian community quite clear. In a statement issued very recently, McDonalds claims that those of us who are opposed to their support of homosexual causes are "motivated by hate."

Come on, McDonalds, give me a break! That is the same tired old line the gay community has been using for years.

Let me make this perfectly clear so even Ronald McDonald can understand. My opposition to the homosexual agenda is not rooted in hatred of those who have adopted this lifestyle. My opposition is rooted in love for God, love for the family, and love for people. To say that I hate someone because I do not agree with them is foolish and unfounded and quite frankly shows a lack of logic on the part of those who make such a statement.

I could make the same silly argument against McDonalds. I could say that they are motivated by a hatred for the Christian faith and for those loyal customers who are believers in and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since McDonalds assumes I hate homosexual people, I guess I will have to assume they hate me and the dollars I spend at their restaurants here on the west side of Columbus, Ohio and wherever I travel. So, why should I go to a restaurant that is motivated by hatred of me and all I believe in?

The answer is simple. I won't.

No More Big Macs For Me?

I first discovered the joys of eating at McDonalds when I was in my twenties. That's when a McDonalds opened in Lincoln Park, Michigan where I lived at the time. The time was the early 1960s. Later when my wife and I were dating, we spent a lot of time, and a lot of money, at McDonalds, and I consumed many of their Big Macs. Later still, each of our three daughters learned to appreciate the golden arches early in their lives.

Our consistency as McDonalds customers has not wavered over the years. We still visit them regularly, especially when travelling.

How disappointing, then, to discover that McDonalds is now an endorser of homosexual causes. Their famous golden arches are now featured on the website of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce where McDonalds is identified as a corporate partner. McDonalds admits it has given a large, but undisclosed, sum of money to the NGLCC. Further, Richard Ellis, Vice-President of Communications for McDonalds, also serves on the NGLCC board with McDonalds' blessings.

The purpose of the NGLCC is to "promote gay business," according to press reports. McDonalds claims it regularly supports a variety of organizations that promote diversity, and that the fact that "one McDonalds employee" serves on the board of a homosexual cause does not indicate McDonalds is promoting homosexuality. Critics have pointed out, however, that Ellis is not a "teenager flipping hamburgers" at McDonalds, so he is not "one employee." He is a vice-president, an officer.

So, am I going to have to end my love affair with the Big Mac? Well, I certainly am going to have to think twice about supporting a business that is so open about its support of something I consider to be a grave denial of God's wisdom in creating human beings male and female. I probably will give the giant corporation a little time to reconsider, now that the Christian community is letting them know we are not pleased with their decision. But if it becomes necessary I am prepared to give up the pleasures of McDonalds' food for the sake of what is right. I cannot in good conscience support homosexuality in any way. Not even for a Big Mac.

I can survive without McDonalds, and McDonalds will probably survive without me. But, as Wal-Mart learned a few years ago, supporting homosexuality and losing the support of the Christian community is costly. After all, homosexual "couples" do not have an easy time creating families with children who will become future customers. Christian couples do.