“They say they want the kingdom, but they don’t want God in it.” — from “The Wanderer” by U2 (featuring Johnny Cash)

On the afternoon of Dec. 1, 2023, I drove a 90-year-old Secular Franciscan brother to a shopping center in North Raleigh so that he could run some errands. A temporary banner sign caught my eye while we were in the parking lot. The sign read: “Beow’s Books & Brews.”

“I do enjoy books,” I’d thought to myself, “and beer.” It took until that very evening for me to finally check the place out. While approaching the entrance my eyes fell upon a couple of quotes, by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, stickered upon the windows next to the glass door. That was my first inkling that Beow’s owner was, in some fashion, influenced by faith. 

Beow’s is a café, a bar with rotating local craft beers, and a bookstore — all rolled into one. The owner, an avid fan of The Lord of the Rings, named it after the epic poem Beowulf. J.R.R. Tolkien himself had translated the poem from Old English to modern English. The establishment was named to honor one of Tolkien’s works, which happens to be in the public domain (unlike L.O.T.R.), and avoid angry letters from the lawyers of any of Tolkien’s descendants.

Having perused the bookshelves, and met the owner himself, the Christian influence that I’d initially suspected had been verified. The owner, a former Episcopal lay minister, will be confirmed in the Catholic Church this upcoming Easter along with his family. The bulk, if not all, of those among the staff are likewise practicing Christians — some Orthodox, others Protestant.

Beow’s is a family-friendly establishment. It has a small play area where children can occupy themselves, within sight, while moms and dads sip their coffee, beer or wine. Among the events hosted there is an occasional comedy night in which the comics’ content remains within the “PG” or “PG-13” range. I’ve yet to hear any patron shout an expletive while seated at the bar rail (something local sports bars dealt with much from Carolina Panthers fans this past season). There are no televisions mounted on the walls, unlike most bars. If one is looking for a place to get drunk, until late, Beow’s just isn’t the place to go to. 

I’ve gone to Beow’s quite regularly since that first visit. I’ve learned much about the spiritual disciplines observed by Orthodox Christians, which tend to be stricter than what most Catholics are accustomed to, from those among the friendly staff who are practicing Orthodox. The atmosphere there is far more positive than what one may expect from most bars, giving appeal to religious and irreligious alike. And each month the crowd seated at the tables has been, rather consistently, growing larger.

Beow’s has been open for about a year. On a few occasions, I’ve bumped into a friend from the Journeymen, a local Catholic men’s group, who’d just happened to be there. This establishment, with a stated mission of “cultivating the great conversation,” has become a rather popular venue for various groups such as book clubs, Bible studies and film clubs, to hold meetings. I’d once even happened to meet a gentleman who drove there from Cary, the next town over, because he’d preferred having a beer at Beow’s rather than any bar nearer to him. A second location, also in Raleigh, is slated to open before the end of this year.

Perhaps it goes to show that there is an unspoken demand, among religious and irreligious alike, for places with atmospheres very much like that of Beow’s.

It’s commonly regarded as something of an axiom, among the general population, that business owners are much wiser to refrain from mingling company policies with religious practices. It’s largely considered prudent to eschew any risk of being dubbed “too Christian” in our current era in which the overly sensitive are largely regarded as prophets. And yet numerous companies are thriving today as they carry on, at least to some extent, with those policies guided by the faith-based principles instilled by their founders. Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, In-N-Out and Forever 21 are a few such examples.

For business owners to guide their companies in such a manner does not come without criticism, and controversy, in our day. 

Chick-fil-A, which (like Hobby Lobby and Beow’s) remains closed on Sundays, was subject to much public carping after WinShape (Chick-fil-A’s charitable foundation) made sizeable donations to such charitable organizations as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Salvation Army. Many LGBTQ activists considered these charities to be “hostile” and nationwide boycotts were called for.   

Hobby Lobby’s refusal to provide birth control to employees, as mandated during the time by Obamacare legislation, led to the 2014 landmark Supreme Court Case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. The Green family’s stance, based upon their conviction that contraceptives are immoral, was ultimately upheld in a crucial 5-4 victory favoring religious freedom.

The 2017 Supreme Court case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which resulted from a local Colorado baker’s principled refusal to serve an event contradictory to his convictions, was likewise an important victory upholding religious freedom. 

For a business owner to guide company policies according to faith-based principles is not the same as imposing his or her faith upon employees or customers. To refrain from partaking in certain activities that contradict one’s convictions isn’t the same as compelling those convictions upon others.

One needn’t be a practicing Christian to eat, shop or work at any of these places. The Green family’s principled refusal to provide contraceptives doesn’t prevent any Hobby Lobby employees from purchasing birth control on their own, if they’d be so inclined. If one baker’s convictions prohibit him from providing services for a same-sex ceremony, the declined couple can simply turn to another baker who’d accept the transaction, without siccing a civil rights commission upon that declining baker to violate his constitutional right to say “no.”

The much greater constitutional threat in our day is posed by those who don’t hesitate to impose, by calls to boycott and by government mandate, their irreligion upon others.

“Men are moved most by their religion,” G.K. Chesterton wrote in The Everlasting Man, “especially when it is irreligion.”

But the popularity of such “controversial” companies as Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby, demonstrated by their revenue growth in recent years, likewise speaks volumes. My personal reason for avoiding Chick-fil-A is that the lines are always long. Most people hardly care what company owner’s convictions happen to be, so long as the services rendered by that company are of high quality, and plenty of atheists still leave a Forever 21 holding onto a yellow bag with “John 3:16” printed on it.

Chick-fil-A’s policies regarding an employee’s appearance, such as the prohibiting of beards and visible tattoos, may appear rather strange to many. That company is likewise renowned for maintaining a very positive workplace culture. The sound work ethic that a job at Chick-fil-A instills makes it an ideal first job for a teenager.

To impose different policies upon a company, to be in uniform with those of most others, would likewise be to disrupt that particular company’s culture. A disruption in the company’s culture would inevitably affect services rendered, and not necessarily for the better. There is no shortage of examples of restaurant chains that have declined in quality of service soon after having been purchased by a conglomerate.

Could it be that those very faith-based principles guiding such companies are precisely what helped them build such high-quality company cultures? Who doesn’t prefer a better-tasting meal, a more pleasant atmosphere, or higher-quality goods at reasonable prices?

The practice of Christianity, and religion in general, has now been in decline among our general population for several decades. And yet several major companies, having practices considered “too Christian” by some, have still experienced steady growth in recent years. Beow’s itself is a localized example that the atmospheres produced by instilling faith-based principles are indeed a largely-unarticulated demand.

Could it be the case that people in Christendom, the West as we call it today, still yearn for a Christianized culture even as the actual practice of Christianity might be shunned? How long can we reasonably expect to keep on eating the fruits if the vine is cut down?