IRD: Defend Christian Businesses Against ‘Lynch Mobs’ of Secular Groupthink

on April 6, 2015

Institute on Religion and Democracy Press Release
April 6, 2015
Contact: Jeff Walton office: 202-682-4131, cell: 202-413-5639, e-mail: jwalton@TheIRD.org

 

“Future lynch mobs will target more Christian owned businesses for their refusal to comply with secular groupthink.”
-IRD President Mark Tooley

 

Washington, DC—A small town Indiana pizzeria has experienced a dramatic reversal of fortune just days after shutting its doors in the face of condemnation and threats. The owners of Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana came under attack after answering a question from a television reporter in which one family member said they would refuse for religious reasons to cater a hypothetical gay wedding.

$842,387 was raised in two days for the owners, according to the Washington Times. The “Support Memories Pizza” page on GoFundMe.com closed for donations Friday evening following a 48-hour fundraising campaign that took in contributions from 29,160 people.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

“Kudos for the nearly 30,000 who gave over $840,000 to the Christian family owners of Memories Pizza in Indiana after a virtual lynch mob of ostensible opponents of ‘discrimination’ forced the business to close after a family member, when ambushed by a reporter, dared to say they would not cater a same-sex ritual.

“Hopefully the owners of Memories Pizza will now take a well-deserved vacation before, we pray, reopening their business.

“The governor of Indiana should visit a reopened Memories Pizza to show that his state is pro-religious freedom, pro-free speech, and pro-small family owned business.

“Future lynch mobs will target more Christian owned businesses for their refusal to comply with secular group think. The Body of Christ in America, with all persons who favor free speech, will need to rally to their defense, if America is to remain the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

www.TheIRD.org

  1. Comment by Fran Brunson on April 6, 2015 at 6:19 pm

    Clarence Thomas used the phrase “high-tech lynching” back when he was subjected to a smear campaign in an attempt to keep him off the Supreme Court. The lynchings of today really are high-tech, so much hate spread so quickly via electronic gadgets, including a public school teacher encouraging people to engage in arson.

    You can tell a lot about society by how its solid citizens are treated. People are certainly free to avoid any business where they don’t like the owners’ political or religious beliefs, that’s how the marketplace should work. But all the hate spewed at these Christians was uncalled for.

  2. Comment by yolo on April 7, 2015 at 6:45 pm

    That was the height of the fax machine era, which basically was as efficient at sending text and pictures as email is. But because it was before the advent of the search engine most of the nasty pictures and text that were sent between offices are forever lost.

  3. Comment by yolo on April 7, 2015 at 6:46 pm

    I believe that pictures and text were probably much worse than anything that you would see on the internet today because no one worried about a search engine repeating it for billions.

  4. Comment by MarcoPolo on April 8, 2015 at 9:10 am

    I’m not sure it wasn’t “called for”, as in a free society, these dynamics are always in play.

    This will no doubt repeat itself, and we can ALL appreciate the free market system of sustaining our businesses AND our Consciences.

    Tolerance is the operative word in the whole mix.
    Different groups tolerate different things, and thus the rift!

    Is this a GREAT country, or what?!

  5. Comment by Lady Mandevilla on April 8, 2015 at 6:13 pm

    Good people shine brightest when it’s dark. “Shine among them like stars in the sky” Philippians 2:15

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