Will Christian Business Models Still Be Welcomed In America's Future?
"Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice." Psalm 112:5 NIV
The American business ethics of the 1970s indicated that 70% of business owners consciously tried to run their services by using the Christian considerations of mutual respect and honesty in dealing with their customers.
By the year 2000, America was transiting to no longer being a Christian-majority country and the buying public was more concerned about voting with their feet to find a cheaper price and an easier buying "experience" than they ever were about the moral standards displayed by their favorite stores. Any reference to the moral standards of stores today like Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby are usually negative in context.
Having said that, I am pleased that the New Yorker Magazine received a great deal of blow-back from social media following their story of how Chick-Fil-A was a "Creepy Infiltration of Christianity" coming into the New York City business scene. A lot of New Yorker like Chick-Fil-A and the way that the company has selfishly given or served food free of charge to those such as the volunteers waiting in line to give blood after the Miami nightclub shooting, or taking food to the folks stranded at the Atlanta Airport earlier this year.
The New Yorker did a bit of retraction in response to the pressure of social media, but it so common today for media to criticize any Christian effort that brings a focus upon the moral issues within our society. Like the homeless, they would like to see the "Christian agenda" just go away and to keep an ineffective profile. One has to wonder as the younger among us {Gen Z - 40% of US population] become the dominant economic force, will they still have room in their tolerance for Christian business models, or will on-line ordering eventually make them the first U.S. generation not to care either way. Oh, they will still want their money's worth and be treated fairly, but statically it has been indicated that they will not any of that has having come from the "Christian" ethic.
I think some, like the New Yorker, already display much bias toward the Christian business model when they say things such as this about Chick-Fil-A's recent introduction into the major New York market: "And yet the brand’s arrival here feels like an infiltration, in no small part because of its pervasive Christian traditionalism. Its headquarters, in Atlanta, are adorned with Bible verses and a statue of Jesus washing a disciple’s feet. Its stores close on Sundays."*
Maybe the New Yorker a problem with those aspects of Chick-Fil-A, but a great many of us do not, with most actually prefer to do business with as many folks like them as we can. I hope that young folks are of like mind when they are the majority making that choice.
