Bible study group no longer welcome at McDonald's

[shakey]

The law doesn't. Neither does McD's management.

I think that may be the issue... Religious people tend to think that what they consider/believe is true, and thus should be treated as such. When in reality, it couldn't be farther from the truth. Just because you believe something, doesn't make it real.

[Charisma Veteran]

I think that may be the issue... Religious people tend to think that what they consider/believe is true, and thus should be treated as such. When in reality, it couldn't be farther from the truth. Just because you believe something, doesn't make it real.

That has nothing to do with this. They were allowed to sit there doing their thing for quite some time until someone else got all offended about it and complained. Actually, by your logic, that person was more wrong than the group was. They weren't content to let people be, they had to go get someone else kicked out of a restaurant for having different beliefs than them. What if a religious person tried to get a group of people kicked out because they were discussing atheism? That'd be crazy, right?

[shakey]

That has nothing to do with this. They were allowed to sit there doing their thing for quite some time until someone else got all offended about it and complained. Actually, by your logic, that person was more wrong than the group was. They weren't content to let people be, they had to go get someone else kicked out of a restaurant for having different beliefs than them. What if a religious person tried to get a group of people kicked out because they were discussing atheism? That'd be crazy, right?

Wow, you are totally seeing this from the wrong angle....

First, Doesn't matter how long they have been doing it. It isn't their place, it is a business. They have no say as to if they can stay there, especially if they are bringing in people who could scare off potential profits.

Second, Yes, someone complained, maybe. That obviously means that the group was disturbing someone, enough for a complaint. That is enough for a business to tell a group to stop coming. You might want to learn how businesses operate... because all work like this.

Third, athiesm was brought up by some one else, I was responding to it.

Content with letting people be? You mean a group of homeless addict who were going to a business that they had no point in being at, and loitering. Sorry, this is a society. We don't just let everyone do exactly as they please. Religion does not get any special treatment.

Lastly, Good assumption that they were kicked out for only discussing religion... not for bringing in homless drug addicts into a very kid friendly and busy business...... You may want to not view this with a biased view, and look at it from outside of your beliefs/feelings.

[bj55555]

I don't care what imaginary god you pray to. Eat and get out. Otherwise, you're talking up seating that a real customer might want to use.

[Solid Knight]

This is not news. McDonald's tolerated it for two years. There were complaints. They acted upon those complaints. In the end, McDonald's is a restaurant; they don't need to accomodate meetings.

[moloko]

I don't know, I consider McDonald's a "public place", don't you? If someone got offended, it means they were basically eavesdropping on what another table was talking about. Can I get people kicked out of a restaurant because I overheard them saying I'm ugly and was offended by it? Honestly, this is no different. People need to mind their own damn business.

You could get someone kicked out of a restuarant for that if you complain to the manager. It would be for him to decide. Now most would not becuase it best to settle things where he can get the most profit.

McDonalds is not a public space it is a business. a public space is the sidewalk, the park, etc, Movie theaters, malls, fast food places, coffee shops these are not public spots. They are businesses that can remove you from the property if they want.

[Shiranui]

Good. Damn god bothering idiots. Wahahahahaaaaaaaa

However, if, and only if, they were all buying burgers and not being particularly disruptive (loud voices, etc.) and not "overstaying" and depriving other customers of a place to sit, then they have just as much right as anyone else to be there.

[Charisma Veteran]

Wow, you are totally seeing this from the wrong angle....

First, Doesn't matter how long they have been doing it. It isn't their place, it is a business. They have no say as to if they can stay there, especially if they are bringing in people who could scare off potential profits.

Second, Yes, someone complained, maybe. That obviously means that the group was disturbing someone, enough for a complaint. That is enough for a business to tell a group to stop coming. You might want to learn how businesses operate... because all work like this.

Third, athiesm was brought up by some one else, I was responding to it.

Content with letting people be? You mean a group of homeless addict who were going to a business that they had no point in being at, and loitering. Sorry, this is a society. We don't just let everyone do exactly as they please. Religion does not get any special treatment.

Lastly, Good assumption that they were kicked out for only discussing religion... not for bringing in homless drug addicts into a very kid friendly and busy business...... You may want to not view this with a biased view, and look at it from outside of your beliefs/feelings.

Hey, calm down, I have no "personal beliefs/feelings" interfering here, except for the "I get massively irritated when the PC-whiners go around ruining people's days getting 'offended' about everything" one. Doesn't matter what kind of group it was, that attitude is what's wrong with society these days. And you know as well as I do that they may not have been "obviously" disturbing anybody--there are loads of folks out there more than happy to go out of their way when they can whine and complain and cause problems and feel some weird form of a power trip for a few minutes. We've all seen or at least heard about these types. My personal philosophy is very hands-off and "live and let live", that's why I have a beef with this. Speaking of beef, I suspect they would have ordered food (otherwise, why meet there?), so they aren't just there taking up space.

That and the fact that many of the folks getting all up in arms over this story (and making it all about religion) wouldn't have said anything if it were, say, a book club, or cat-lady convention.

IMHO, I'm just glad someone was reaching out to help these folks who needed it. I'm sure they'll find somewhere else to go, this really isn't that big of a news story in the long run.

[bj55555]

You could get someone kicked out of a restuarant for that if you complain to the manager. It would be for him to decide. Now most would not becuase it best to settle things where he can get the most profit.

McDonalds is not a public space it is a business. a public space is the sidewalk, the park, etc, Movie theaters, malls, fast food places, coffee shops these are not public spots. They are businesses that can remove you from the property if they want.

Even in public places like a sidewalk or park, you sometimes have to get permits to gather.

[winlonghorn]

I've just quoted a passage of the Bible to Charisma that clearly states misbehaving children should be stoned :) I don't see how that could be interpreted in any way. When I post against the Bible, you can be assured that I'm not going off others' interpretations, I'm going off what I have read. I'm currently in the process of reading the entire Bible :)

Reading the Bible is one thing, but in order to truly understand what it means would require accepting Jesus into your heart and having the intervention of the Holy Spirit to guide you. The Bible is not just another book of stories. It is so much more than that.

[nominak]

Reading the Bible is one thing, but in order to truly understand what it means would require accepting Jesus into your heart and having the intervention of the Holy Spirit to guide you. The Bible is not just another book of stories. It is so much more than that.

No, it's a book of stories. You can't use the excuse that we can't truly understand it until we accept jesus.. That's a very weak excuse to dismiss real objection to the bible.

[Shadrack]

Martinez, who could not be reached for comment, believes someone of Islamic faith was at the restaurant and may have been offended enough to make a complaint. Martinez said the religion had been a brief topic of discussion last week.

The fact that he just assumed that someone of the Islamic faith was the one who complained is absurd. It was probably someone who didn't want to be preached at while they got their Big Mac.

[Shadrack]

Reading the Bible is one thing, but in order to truly understand what it means would require accepting Jesus into your heart and having the intervention of the Holy Spirit to guide you. The Bible is not just another book of stories. It is so much more than that.

In other words, the only way to understand the Bible is to be brainwashed.

[winlonghorn]

In other words, the only way to understand the Bible is to be brainwashed.

That may be your opinion, but it certainly isn't mine.

[Growled Member]

They'd find plenty of room at our local McDonald's -- seldom busy in the evenings. :laugh:

Ours is very busy but I bet they would be more than welcome here. I might even join them.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

McDonald's are franchise run so this doesn't speak for the whole chain unless McDonald's itself issued a blanket ban across the chain, which has not occurred.

Sensationalist story...

[blade1269]

McDonalds is not a proper place to have any kind of religious/political gatherings. There are place dedicated for those purposes.

I guess that if they were having a gay pride lunch MCD's would be ok with it and give them food. But no there Christians so they have to go...

[theyarecomingforyou]

I guess that if they were having a gay pride lunch MCD's would be ok with it and give them food. But no there Christians so they have to go...

Perceived persecution is perceived.

Seriously, this was a group consisted of homeless people and drug addicts who would come in, take up seats and - from what we can tell - not buy anything (notice how the article never stated they were paying customers). More importantly, the group received complaints from other customers. If this were any other group - atheist or otherwise - the treatment would have been exactly the same. I know I'd be unhappy if the same thing happened at a local restaurant, particularly when they have limited seating.

For centuries Christians have had special rights and privileges within society but now that they're starting to lose that position in society all you hear is whining about how they're the victims. The idea that Christians - which make up the vast majority of the US - are being persecuted is laughable. Seriously. It's funny. I'm laughing!

[zhangm Supervisor]

I guess that if they were having a gay pride lunch MCD's would be ok with it and give them food. But no there Christians so they have to go...

Way to make a wild assumption without any information on what these people were doing. The place is first and foremost a restaurant, not a community center, and it is the responsibility of the manager and employees to serve the interests of paying customers.

First, we don't know that they were paying customers - in fact, the statement given by the owner suggests that they were not/

"While we're not able to accommodate groups, these folks are always welcome to visit the restaurant as customers," he said.

Secondly, we have no idea what the basis of the complaint was. We don't know what their group size is - they may have been taking up eat-in seats:

Baim pointed out that the restaurant has a small seating area with signs that inform customers about its no-loitering policy.

The complaint may very well have been that there wasn't anywhere to sit during meetings, which is at least lightly backed up by the statement

E Baim, the McDonald's franchise owner, told FoxNews.com in an email that the content of the group's meetings had "absolutely nothing to do with their being asked to move".

The whole story is pretty light on the details - so light, in fact, that Fox didn't actually get these statements directly from an interview. They're second-hand. Next, you'll notice that Fox did get a direct interview from the franchise owner, but the report is incredibly circumspect about the reason behind the group being asked to leave, when the actual question "Why was this group asked to leave" seems a huge, gapingly obvious interview question. So what is this whole story? Well, it consists of cherry-picked, second hand statements and suppositions from Martinez, interspersed with with a suspiciously vague set of answers from the person that they actually got to interview directly, making it look like they're actually presenting a discussion from both sides.

Unless the Fox reporters are completely incompetent, they're spinning this issue into "OMG, us religious folk are being persecuted" when it may simply be that the group was loitering, taking up all the seats, and merely using the facility for space.

[Yogurtmaster]

Precisely, it shouldn't be allowed for any reasons. So why is it that people are seemingly only up in arms about it when it involves Christians? For the record I don't support discrimination against Christians.

A Bible Study or Science Study should be allowed. It's irrelevant if you agree with it or not. It's freedom dude. I am very unhappy with the way this nation and this world is going.

I just want to close my eyes and get to the end.

[Albert]

why don't the church start their own church approved fastfood chain? i suggest buddy christ (from dogma) as their mascot. that should give ronald mcdonald a can of whoop @$$.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Reading the Bible is one thing, but in order to truly understand what it means would require accepting Jesus into your heart and having the intervention of the Holy Spirit to guide you. The Bible is not just another book of stories. It is so much more than that.

So, by your argument, the Bible is not to be believed literally, but taken in context dependant upon faith?

[nekkidtruth]

Reading the Bible is one thing, but in order to truly understand what it means would require accepting Jesus into your heart and having the intervention of the Holy Spirit to guide you. The Bible is not just another book of stories. It is so much more than that.

I can't decide if I should be amused by this absolutely retarded statement or if I should feel sad for you.

[Yogurtmaster]

why don't the church start their own church approved fastfood chain? i suggest buddy christ (from dogma) as their mascot. that should give ronald mcdonald a can of whoop @$$.

I know some of you kids don't have a clue or an education, but this isn't funny and is disrespectful.

[Ci7]

I'm not saying that McDonalds were right or wrong in their decision. However, if the Christians don't want to be singled out then I suggest they go hold their meetings somewhere else, somewhere dedicated to their beliefs where they have the right to preach whatever they want. Now if only there were buildings specifically designed for Christians...

that is church .. wander why they bothered with restaurant sigh