Kerby Anderson

We all know what happens when a Christian business promotes traditional marriage or fails to endorse same-sex marriage. Bakers, florists, photographers, and others have been fined and often put out of business. But would you believe this might happen to a company in the meat industry?

Maggie Gallagher tells the story of a Christian family that runs the West Michigan Beef Company that they say they run for “the glory of God.” The owner saw various newspaper and magazine articles in their break room celebrating gay marriage. So he printed off an article explaining why gay marriage was against God’s will and put the essay with the other magazines.

Unfortunately for him, the Obama administration’s secretary of agriculture had issued an “Anti-Harassment Policy Statement.” One of the USDA inspectors spotted the offending article and decided to take action. They told the owner that he must remove the article or they would withdraw all USDA meat inspectors. That would effectively shut down his business.

Now remember that the USDA meat inspectors are there to guaranteed the health and safety of the workers and the consumers. They aren’t empowered to become the speech police for the federal government. That is why Maggie Gallagher says that Congress needs to investigate this situation because things have become confused. Possibly to cover their earlier action, the USDA sent a letter to the meat company talking about a possible violation of humane slaughtering even though there doesn’t seem to be a major violation. Is there really a problem, or is this merely regulatory revenge?

Last year I wrote a commentary about the list of vocations Christians might have to avoid. A few of them are: baker, florist, photographer, pharmacist, innkeeper, and country clerk. Let’s hope we don’t have to add owner of a meat company to that growing list.