Why and how to boycott/picket your local McDonald's
Why Boycott?
Think about it: "If only 10% of McDonald's customers withdrew their support from McDonald's, McDonald's would not be able to continue to support same-sex marriage."
Ephesians 5:11 commands us to "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness; but rather expose them." This passage gives us the biblical basis for boycotts as well as pickets. Boycotts silently demonstrate our refusal to have anything to do with the evil deeds of darkness, while pickets demonstrate our duty to expose the often hidden evil works around us. We must withdraw our support from McDonald's until McDonald's withdraws its support from evil; to do so, we will both boycott and picket - otherwise, we are just part of the problem.
Christians will either be a part of the problem, or part of the solution.
In explaining the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1954, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said "non-cooperation with evil is as much an obligation as cooperation with good". He also noted that "He who passively accepts evil, without protesting against it, is really cooperating with it." As a Christian minister, King realized that segregation would never end, without the active, non-cooperation of blacks. Likewise, we must realize that McDonald's promotion of evil will never end without the active, non-cooperation of Christians. Your dollars will either be used to help McDonald's (and future corporations following their example) promote evil, or your dollars will be used to help end McDonald's promotion of evil (and be a warning to other corporations). Aiding and Abetting Evil "But I'm just buying a Big Mac!" Reverend King realized that although blacks were not directly creating racist, segregation laws, their cooperation was allowing it to continue. In legal terms, this is known as "aiding and abetting", and carries criminal penalties: "A person charged with aiding and abetting or accessory is usually not present when the crime itself is committed, but he or she has knowledge of the crime before or after the fact, and may assist in its commission through advice, actions, or financial support. Accomplices in crimes can be held accountable for their role in the crime, although they may not have been directly committing the crime." This is why it's essential to expose McDonald's evil deeds, so that Christians have knowledge of the evil being committed by the company they may be financially supporting. They then must be instructed properly, that they should not be willful accomplices in McDonald's evil deeds. Does the Bible say we're responsible for what OTHER people do? Yes. Ezekiel 3:18-19, "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul." Clearly, God says we're accountable, to some degree, for other people's actions. Of how much greater accountability are we held to when our role in the other's evil deeds is increased by our financial support? And don't say that's just "the OOOLLLDD Testament". Read what Paul says in Acts 20:26-27, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Paul knew that he would be held accountable for what he said, and didn't say, to others, based on Ezekiel's instruction. We likewise must treat with much care, how our lives are lived on a personal level and a societal level. |
