Russell Moore Congratulates Chick-fil-A for Being America's Most Popular Fast Food Chain
Evangelical Christian leader Russell Moore congratulated Chick-fil-A for being America's most popular fast-food chain, according to the Foursquare app check-ins.
When Business Insider created an animated map of the most popular fast-food restaurants in every state based on Foursquare check-ins, the Christian-owned chicken sandwich chain emerged the most popular in 24 states.
Chick-fil-A clearly dominates the south and the southeast, according to the map.
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"This is, to say the least, impressive. Congrats @ChickfilA!" tweeted Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
Chick-fil-A restaurants are known for holding Christian values.
Last year in Tennessee, one of the states where the fast food chain is the most popular, a church, Crosspoint Community Church, and a local Chick-fil-A owner, Todd Hunley, came together to give Morgan Carter, a distraught mother of two small children, whose family car had just caught on fire and burned, a serviceable van so she wouldn't be stuck without a reliable vehicle.
The fast food chain has also endured opposition and calls for boycotts due to their values.
In May 2014, restaurant President Dan Cathy told Forbes magazine that he was "guilty as charged" in his support of traditional marriage. "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles," he said.
Before the opening of Chick-fil-A's Queens location in New York City earlier this year, Mayor Bill de Blasio attempted to thwart the business' success by calling for a boycott of the store.
Along with De Blasio, openly gay Councilman Danny Dromm claimed the restaurant promoted a "strong anti-LGBT message by forcing their employees and volunteers to adhere to a policy that prohibits same-sex love."
"What the ownership of Chick-fil-A has said is wrong," de Blasio asserted at a press conference. "I'm certainly not going to patronize them and I wouldn't urge any other New Yorker to patronize them."
In response, Chick-fil-A issued a statement: "The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their beliefs, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We are a restaurant company comprised of 80,000 individuals who represent different backgrounds and beliefs, and we are all focused on offering great food, service and hospitality."
Most popular fast food restaurants in every state https://t.co/O1YMaek9Co#datavizpic.twitter.com/nWPhNAM4Xd
— /r/DataIsBeautiful (@DataIsBeautiful) December 23, 2016
