Dear Chik-fil-A

“We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”
-Dan Cathy, founder, Chik-fil-A

Dear Chik-fil-A,

Glad to hear that you're so happy in your marriages.

I'm puzzled by your recent homophobic statement about "the biblical definition of the family unit."  What exactly do you think that the Bible's definition of "family" is?

Of all of the books of the Bible, I didn't notice Dictionary being one of them.  When I did a search for the word "family" in general, I got 205 results.  Try it for yourself!

Aside from the typical stuff about someone wiping out an entire family because God desired it, I found some interesting, sometimes conflicting information.

For one thing, people seem very concerned with building a family

Genesis 16:2
New International Version (NIV)
2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai said.

Genesis 30:3
New International Version (NIV)
3 Then she said, “Here is Bilhah, my servant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and I too can build a family through her.”

 and preserving the family line

Genesis 19:32
New International Version (NIV)
32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

Genesis 19:34
New International Version (NIV)
34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”

at all costs.

Here's a note on familial duty:

Deuteronomy 25:5
New International Version (NIV)
5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.

Who, exactly, is a member of the family?

Judges 11:2
New International Version (NIV)
2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.”

Proverbs 17:2
New International Version (NIV)
2 A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son
    and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

John 8:35
New International Version (NIV)
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

Are women, wives, daughters, important members of the family?

Jeremiah 35:3
New International Version (NIV)
3 So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons—the whole family of the Rekabites.

How large is a typical family?  How many wives do you have?

1 Chronicles 7:4
New International Version (NIV)
4 According to their family genealogy, they had 36,000 men ready for battle, for they had many wives and children.

I don't know.  I don't see a definition of family here, but I do see a lot of signs that you should do anything and everything to procreate wildly.  It's great that you're still married to your first wives, but you might want to add in at least a second and third if you really want to be biblical about it.

With love,
Frank Lee

Edited to add: click here, please.