The Chicago restaurant that sells a hamburger adorned with an unconsecrated communion wafer and a red wine reduction has promised to donate some money to the local Catholic Charities organization while refusing to take the item off the menu in the face of protests from some Christians:

A Chicago restaurant that sparked an outcry by offering a burger that includes an unconsecrated communion wafer and a red wine reduction has donated $1,500 to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“We’re not trying to say anything against the church… and we kind of have to prove a point because we’re not taking the burger off the menu,” said Luke Tobias, director of operations for the heavy-metal themed Kuma’s Corner in the Avondale neighborhood.

The restaurateur acknowledged the ability of those who are offended by the restaurant’s menu item to state their opinion (which is of course a truism; they obviously have been able to state their opinions), while saying, in the very same sentence, that they are morally bound to stop saying what they think:

“We support everybody’s kind of ability to go out and say what they want to say do what they want to do,” Tobias said. “I may not agree with it, but I’m not going to tell you not to do it. And we would appreciate the same level of respect.”

Tobias did not provide any philosophical citations supporting his claim of a moral stricture against restaurant criticism. He did, however, suggest that any criticism of his decisions does not merit a response (a claim clearly at odds with his decision to donate to the Catholic Charities):

“The positive feedback has been extremely positive,” Tobias said. “The negative feedback, it’s unfortunate, but what are you going to do?”

What to do? Here are some simple suggestions: learn from this; develop a minimal sense of consideration for other people; show the most basic human level of manners and common decency; state that you are sorry for offending a large group of people (regardless of any decision on whether to keep serving the item). Evidently these are strange and puzzling actions to take, but they really do work.