To take it a step further, Christian businesses that can stand taking money from gay folks could have a rainbow colored cross and like-minded Jews could post a rainbow colored Star of David. Of course, there’s no point in even discussing such an option for Muslims.
The next to last paragraph, about government services, is the argument I find most compelling and have used with conservative friends and family members to explain the legal justification for anti-discrimination laws. The first response I get is that, “Businesses pay taxes. What about their rights?” But no business pays enough in taxes to cover all those taxpayer-provided services they rely upon to run their business. So other taxpayers chip in to help cover the cost of those services. Those other taxpayers include people with whom the business owner likely disagrees, just as my tax dollars help business owners with whom I disagree. It is part of belonging to a community and having pooled community resources (roads, police and fire protection, public education, etc). We cannot allow businesses to accept the help of tax dollars paid by the LGBT community and then turn around and discriminate against those very same people.
The next argument is usually something along the lines of “Nazis pay taxes. So should a Jewish bakery be forced to bake a cake for a Nazi rally?” It’s an absurd argument but unfortunately one that must be responded to. My answer is that Nazis are not a protected class, nor should they be. Nobody is born a Nazi. People make the choice to join a hate group. When they make that choice, they give up certain privileges.
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This is a weird ideological rant, isn’t it? The reality is that you can’t live very well if you choose not to obey the laws and regulations of the state. Sure, you could drive 90 miles an hour without a seat belt. But it wouldn’t take long before you lost your license to drive. Then, I suppose you could continue to drive. But it wouldn’t take long until the state took your liberty as well. This is the state using coercive force to compel correct behavior.
The same is true for businesses. You can choose not to start a business… but if you’re an entrepreneur that isn’t really an option.
Let’s face it. Regulations do restrict freedoms. Regulations say you aren’t free to deny service to anyone based on race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation (where applicable). They restrict your freedom to be a bigot. This too is the state using coercive force to compel correct behavior.
Bigots worship freedom over equality. They wave “Don’t Tread on me” flags when the only way the state is treading on them is in denying their self-percieved right to be bigots.
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Man, I hope this is satire… cuz this ended really well for the Jews in the 30s.
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There’s no force, the government doesn’t force you to follow laws?
Awesome, Eric Garner was killed due to “circumstances of not following laws” it was his fault, and the government didn’t force him to stop selling loosies on the street.
No force. Right? The government doesn’t use force; that’s a myth of the right wing or something.
Or is that different; while oddly being exactly the same as the dumb-as-a-rock argument made here?
Seriously, how freaking stupid do you have to be to buy this, and to realize the first logical step here is to claim the government never uses force to enforce laws.
The word enforce has force in it for a reason; that’s not a coincidence.
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Please stop referring to these hateful idiots as “Christians.” They are just bigots hiding behind a fake mask of Christianity. There’s nothing Christian about them.
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If you cater to a gay wedding, you may catch gay. If you catch the gay, you’ll leave your wife for a man, and your wife will move in with a well hung black man.
This is a very slippery slope.
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<Don’t like following the laws that apply to businesses—including serving all customers equally? Then don’t start a business. That’s your choice.>
Absolutely right. That says it all right there.
Amen. That is it in a nutshell.
And it strikes me that there are entirely too many people trying to find ways to be offended.
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Vinny is correct…these are not fringe Christians.
Look up the 2009 Manhattan Declaration and then look up who signed it…lots of mainstream Catholic bishops as well as Protestant organizations are well represented.
This declaration emphatically states that religious liberty as a matter of conscience is jeopardized. A direct quote:
“…the use of anti-discrimination statues to force religious institutions, businesses and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral…”
And what activities are they referring to? Well, the obvious number one is abortion, if any recall the fuss made to provide birth control, etc. Hello, Hobby Lobby ruling.
There is also their reference to a marriage being between one man and one woman. And here’s what the declaration said “…nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent…”
So here it is. Religious liberty is extended to any business (Hobby Lobby ruling only viewed this as narrow–when the business is wholly or majority owned…) and that liberty is compromised when anyone at that business is “forced” to treat a union of other than a man and a woman as a marriage.
Hence, bakeries and pizza shop owners stepping up to this very confused plate as a matter of conscience and as an exercise of their religious liberty.
So, this is not a fringe endeavor but a culmination of contrastive religious thought in this country. The signatories to the original 2009 declaration is an eyeopener and certainly reveals this thought is not “fringe”.
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I have spoken to a lot of fairly religious conservatives, and many of them are not aware that marriage is a contract with the state. They think the church is “in charge” of marriages, and that if gay marriage is allowed, that means churches will be forced to perform the ceremony. Yes, for real.
These people indeed do not need to be hated, that just galvanizes them. They need to be educated. The few I advised that the church is permitted by the state to do marriages were not even aware of it, and some even did not believe and looked it up…only to be shocked. At that point many of them said “oh, OK, as long as my church does not have to do the service”
We can’t wait for FOX to educate them, we need to do it by engaging them. Sure, many are pig headed and still will just plain hate “gay”, but many will change their minds. And as I have said before, it only takes a few percent of people to turn around an election.
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It’s difficult to use analogy to support a ridiculous position. You end up using a ridiculous or non-parallel comparison. Santorum does this above. Had the gay folks asked the christian baker to make a cake with “Jesus sucks” on it…his analogy would be OK. But that baker declined service because of whom the customer was…not what he wanted.
The second take from this is Santorum thought that quip was clever. Or knew that it wasn’t but thought the rubes would think it was. I guess non of it matters though. He’s never going to be nominated for much less run for President in a general election.
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How about non-believers and those who want to just run a business can have a big dollar sign?
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I suppose you could tell those family members they could choose not to avail themselves of any of those public services the rest of us maintain, nor cross over any public right-of-way that were constructed and maintained to benefit the entire community. Perhaps they could have the Nazis airdrop supplies, water, and the materials for the basic needs of life down to ‘their’ property. Unfortuantely, they’re on their own if a nearby neighbor wants to lay seige and conquer their home.
Can you tell we have similar relatives?
Thank goodness there is someone else that sees how stupid this article is. Like the laws you are supposed to follow to not run afoul of the government, aren’t made by the very government that is not forcing you to follow the laws. Dumb-as-a-rock indeed!!!
Bingo! Maybe to defuse this ridiculous controversy the government should drop the word marriage and substitute it with civil union.
Boy, that first paragraph is a convoluted masterpiece of logic. All laws give you the choice to obey or disobey them and suffer the consequences.
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It’s not just the word, yes, it’s the legal issue. Most businesses do not cover civil unions for benefits,etc. You would need to change the term for heterosexual marriage to civil union as well, and then make all of it legally binding.
“…private businesses get all kinds of government support…”
That is quite a list!
When you look at all the benefits businesses are getting, and all the profits they are reaping, it’s pretty clear businesses aren’t the oppressed party here.
well the bible did say. that they there would be false profits and that there would come as wolves in sheep’s clothing. Maybe they thought those were the commandments.