You don’t see a lot of restaurant owners getting into the thick of it in online comment sections, unless it has to do with business. So it was a little strange to see Tim Hutchins pop up under a post about one man’s visit to an Islamic Center in Frisco. It was even weirder to see the owner of Hutchins BBQ have a back-and-forth with people about the relationship between Christians and Muslims.
On Nov. 30, a Dallas real estate owner shared on Facebook that he was invited to an open house for the Islamic Center in Frisco. “I always admire people who are actually trying to learn more about each other, and get along rather than taking the easy route of tribalism,” Jared Tye wrote. It seemed innocuous enough, until the replies rolled in. One of them was from Hutchins.
“Appreciate the heart behind this, but let’s not be naïve,” Hutchins wrote. “Loving our neighbors doesn’t mean turning off discernment. We can show respect and kindness without pretending every worldview is the same.”
Hutchins’ comment elicited its own thread of heated responses. Some accused him of Islamophobia. Others said they would boycott Hutchins BBQ restaurants. And a few took to debating him on what exactly was meant by “discernment.”…