Privately owned businesses commonly offer consumer discounts to select groups of their choosing, such as senior citizens, policemen, firemen, soldiers, and so on, but when a business expands the list to churchgoers or church youth groups, all Hell breaks loose: Atheists claim that targeted marketing campaigns that include Christians are bigoted and illegal.
For background, read Quote John 3:16 & Get $19.99 Oil Change and also read Liberal Elite Secularists Attack Christian Business as well as Christian Refused at Pro-gay-only Lunch Counter
UPDATE 8/17/14: Atheists Force 'Prayer Discount' Out of North Carolina Diner
-- From "Complaints prompt water park to end discounts for church groups" by Mike Jaccarino, FoxNews.com 8/13/12
Willow Springs Water Park . . . in the heart of the Bible Belt is ending the $5-per-person discount it had been offering on its entrance fee to church groups after [Leifel Jackson] the head of a secular charity that caters to inner-city youths requested the same deal for its kids.
The park, which hosts Bible camps throughout the summer and has long catered to church groups, charges $15 for adults, $10 for children under 15 years of age, and $9-a-head for groups over 15 people. The park knocks $6 off admission for firefighters, law enforcement and members of the military.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation, a national non-profit dedicated to the separation of church-and-state, got wind of what had happened, and a lawyer from the group fired off a letter to [Willow Springs Owner David] Ratliff, informing him that he'd better not reinstitute the discount for church groups in the future, or on a 'covert' basis.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Nonprofit vs. Water Park: Are Church Discounts Discrimination?" by Marci Manley, KARK-TV4 News (Little Rock, AR) 8/2/12
"Monday was our worst day, so we offered to this to people in the military, over 50, and church groups," [owner David Ratliff] said. "It's not a moneymaker. I'm just trying to get people to the park who have never been here. Every time we have a church group we have people who are very well behaved, they expect the most of each other, they are supervised, organized, and it's less expensive to bring them."
While Ratliff is a Christian man himself, he said his discount for churches isn't meant to exclude other charity groups, but it's a business decision.
"I'm not trying to punish anybody or judge anybody," he said. "I'm just trying to run a business and finish up my year.
According to John DiPippa, Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy at the UALR Bowen School of Law, there's no clear cut answer to the question of is this discrimination under to the Civil Rights Act.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Restaurant Faces Investigation For Offering Church Discount" by Todd Starnes, Foxnews.com 7/5/12
A family-owned restaurant in Pennsylvania is under a state discrimination investigation for offering a ten percent discount for diners who present a church bulletin on Sundays.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission confirmed there is an investigation against Prudhomme’s Lost Cajun Kitchen in the town of Columbia. The complaint was filed by [local atheist] John Wolff, a retired electrical engineer.
Sharon Prudhomme, who owns the restaurant along with her husband, said she’s not discriminating against anybody – and plans on fighting the charges.
Prudhomme said the trouble started in April of 2011 when she received the first of several letters from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The FFRF is a Wisconsin-based organization of “more than 17,000 freethinkers, atheists, agnostics and skeptics,” according to its website.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Business Booming for Pa. Restaurant Dealing With Atheist Complaint" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 8/6/12
In an interview with local media, owner Sharon Prudhomme explained that business has been up and support has poured in from all over the country and even the world.
In response to the complaint, Lost Cajun received the support from many across the country and in their neighborhood. This included several offers from lawyers to do pro bono work for the restaurant as they respond to the filed complaint.
Since Wolff filed the complaint, Lost Cajun and its lawyers working pro bono have submitted a response. The restaurant is awaiting the next step in the process.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Chick-fil-A Opposition to Gay Agenda Causes Media Storm
