It turns out two can play at this game. When Cracker Barrel made the uncharcteristic decision last week to pull Duck Commander products from its shelves, saying it didn't want to offend those upset about Phil Robertson quoting biblical teaching on homosexuality, it got an earful all right. From Christians and others interested in defending Robertson's statements, as well as his right to make them.
The company initially defended its move, saying in a statement, "Cracker Barrel's mission is Pleasing People. We operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are the core of our corporate culture."
"We continue to offer Duck Commander products in our stores. We removed selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests while we evaluate the situation. We continually evaluate the products we offer and will continue to do so."
Two days later, however, Cracker Barrel apparently had a change of heart. The company has put the "Duck Dynasty" merchandises back on its restaurants and stores, apologizing for its "mistake."
"Our intent was to avoid offending, but that's just what we've done," the company announced on Sunday. "Today, we are putting all our Duck Dynasty products back in our stores." They added, "When we made the decision to remove and evaluate certain Duck Dynasty items, we offended many of our loyal customers. Our intent was to avoid offending, but that's just what we've done."
The company additionally wrote, "You told us we made a mistake. And, you weren't shy about it. You wrote, you called and you took to social media to express your thoughts and feelings. You flat out told us we were wrong. We listened."
Cracker Barrel's decision to pull the Duck Commander products was a strange one from the beginning. The market to which Cracker Barrel caters is far more conservative than the one that watches A&E. Indeed, this is the same company that once came under fire itself because the gay lobby thought it was hostile toward them. I suppose this could have been a snap overreaction from an organization not wanting to come under the same kind of fire from the same people again, but in the course of jerking its knee in that way, Cracker Barrel appears to have forgotten for the moment who its customer base is.
More importantly, Cracker Barrel's reversal shows that the playing field does not need to be forever tilted in favor of the gay lobby, whose demands scare the living daylights out of every network, every business, every politicians . . . while Christians simply have to accept whatever happens.
Now having said that, let's not lose sight of this: People who stand up for the Word of God are going to face persecution in a world that loves darkness and wants no part of the light. That's scriptural and it should not be the game plan of Christians to protest the world's persecution of us and demand that it stop. Our mission is not to make life nicer for ourselves, but to proclaim God's Word even as we're being persecuted.
I'm glad Christians made themselves heard and I'm glad Cracker Barrel listened and acted accordingly. That was the right outcome. Let's just make sure we're pursuing outcomes like that for God's glory and not because it's such a bummer that we have to face hardship for the sake of the truth.
In the meantime, I've got a taste for one of those hash brown casseroles.
