At CNN’s Belief Blog, R. Albert Mohler Jr. addresses the controversy surrounding Chick-fil-A and its president Dan Cathy. Mohler is president of Southern Seminary.

The controversy began when Cathy revealed to a Baptist newspaper that his views of marriage reflect those of the Christian tradition. To a different media outlet, he disclosed his concern for a generation with the “audacity to redefine what marriage is all about.”

Shortly after, city officials in Boston, Chicago and New York publically condemned Cathy’s statements and vowed to oppose the expansion of Chick-fil-A in their respective cities.

“The threats made against Chick-fil-A betray the principle of religious liberty that is enshrined within the U.S. Constitution,” writes Mohler, in Belief Blog's "My Take" column. “Civic officials in some of the nation’s largest and most powerful cities have openly threatened to oppose Chick-fil-A for the singular reason that its president openly spoke of his Christian convictions concerning marriage.”

Mohler warns that these threats could extend to other groups who oppose same-sex marriage, groups with long and important histories in these cities.

“When [New York City Council Speaker Christine] Quinn, one of the most powerful officials in New York, announces, ‘I do not want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views,’ is she also threatening the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Jewish synagogues and Islamic mosques?

“They, along with evangelical Christian denominations, openly oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage. Cathy’s statements are completely consistent with his own denomination’s statement of faith and official declarations. He was speaking as a Christian and as a Southern Baptist, and he was speaking as a man who does his best to live and speak as he believes,” Mohler writes.

He concludes by calling the aggressive opposition to Chick-fil-A a sign of the length to which those who oppose the Christian perspective of marriage are willing to take the debate.

“This country is deeply divided over the issue of same-sex marriage, and the controversy over Chick-fil-A is an ominous sign that many of the proponents of same-sex marriage are quite willing to violate religious liberty and to use any and all means to silence and punish any individual or organization that holds the contrary view – a view sustained by the voters in 29 states by constitutional amendments.”

Mohler's entire article, “Chick-fil-A controversy reveals religious liberty under threat” is available at Belief Blog.