I know we have some law school kids here. silly chick fil a debate

[Darus Grey]

The praying discount seems pretty clearly wrong to me, violating section 203, as public prayer often IS an attempt to intimidate members of other faiths. And even if it wasn't intended as such, can be easily taken as such.

The bulletin thing however, to me, seems clearly legal. It doesn't break any individual tenant of the civil rights act itself. Having the bulletin is not a litmus test for you being religious, it's simply a strong correlation, as long as they're consistent about honor ANY church bulletin(including pastafarians and such), I don't think they're stepping over any lines. Really stretching it, but not violating anything.

[Snprphnx]

The praying discount seems pretty clearly wrong to me, violating section 203, as public prayer often IS an attempt to intimidate members of other faiths. And even if it wasn't intended as such, can be easily taken as such.

The bulletin thing however, to me, seems clearly legal. It doesn't break any individual tenant of the civil rights act itself. Having the bulletin is not a litmus test for you being religious, it's simply a strong correlation, as long as they're consistent about honor ANY church bulletin(including pastafarians and such), I don't think they're stepping over any lines. Really stretching it, but not violating anything.

I agree with this. Nowhere does it say you have to attend a church service, or bring one of a particular faith/religion/denomination. You just have to bring the weekly program, which some churches make available online. As stated, it is close to the coupon debate. stores done care how you obtain coupons, just that you bring it in. Even though, most people have to purchase a weekly paper to obtain the coupons, it technically is t a requirement.

[*Shinzon*]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/dr/hln/www/...ay_receipt.png

edit:
However, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an atheist group, was not impressed with this discount. The foundation’s staff attorney sent the diner a letter pointing out that offering a discount to customers who visibly or audibly “pray” at some point during their meal is a violation of the federal Civil Rights Act.

A restaurant, after all, is a place of “public accommodation.” The federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires restaurants to be available for “full and equal enjoyment” of all customers.
All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.

Everyone who walks in the door should be treated equally. You can offer a student or senior citizen discount, because age and educational status are not protected groups under the Civil Rights Act.

http://consumerist.com/2014/08/08/at...hts-violation/

As a general rule, courts will not interfere with the business judgments of a private business. A business can offer discounts, without discriminating, to whoever they want. They just cannot refuse to offer their services or goods on discriminatory grounds outright, which would be a violation. Their religious affiliation is also widely publicized and anyone entering the establishment should be aware that the business caters to a particular class of people, and it would be very difficult to make the argument that there is an element of scienter or intent to intimidate others from making use of the services or goods offered by the business.

For the record I graduated with a concentration in financial transactions and litigation, but civil rights violation cases generally require scienter or intent to discriminate against others and tend to be particularly egregious violations when it is a widespread practice.*Edit: Or the practice must have a discriminatory effect in the aggregate, such that it would prevent the average reasonable person from making use of the goods or service. It's kind of a silly issue to debate unless you can prove that you are not being offer the same quality and services as others, which isn't the case when choosing who to offer discounts to. It's just like getting a discount because your friend works at Starbucks.

[Kerberoz]

If people want to protest, they should just print off bulletins and repeatedly get enough free sandwiches that they start losing money and discontinue the promotion.

edit: nevermind, didn't see that you need to pay for a combo.