In this day and age, why would you be stupid enough to use your religious beliefs as an excuse to deny someone services?
There are plenty of ways to avoid entering into a business transaction without having to appear discriminatory at all. When I worked for a private repair shop and encountered a client who seemed to be more trouble than they were worth for whatever reason, we used to simply say, “I am sorry, but we cannot provide service.” If people questioned why (which they did, very often and with plenty of attitude), we just kept repeating the same phrase: “I’m sorry, we cannot provide the service.” No one interpreted us as being discriminatory, or went as far as attempting legal action. We were simply annoying, so they moved onto a business that was willing to enter into the transaction. No harm, no foul.
That is the beauty of the free market: You have choices. If a bakery simply said “I am sorry, we can’t provide that service,” and left it at that, a gay couple denied service might interpret the owner’s choice as being discriminatory, but they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on in court. You can’t sue based on an inference. Progressives, however, rely on the courts to push their agenda because Big Government is their god. So the minute you breathe a hint of something that could be misconstrued as an opportunity for a lawsuit, they gain home-court advantage.
By simply saying, “I am sorry, we can’t provide that service,” you may be opening yourself up to some annoying picketing and internet memes, but what’s the worst that will do? Throw you in the same court as Chick fil-A? We all know how well that protest worked out. The bottom line is, you’re letting the free market decide your fate, not the courts.
The primary response I can hear to that is, “But I should be free to express my beliefs!” Yes, you should. But, you haven’t been for a long time. It shouldn’t have taken gay marriage for Christians to realize that the progressive culture of political correctness has been stifling their freedom of expression for a generation. Today’s court battles over gay marriage are rooted in yesterday’s affirmative action victories; a new morality has taken hold and is avidly manipulating the power of the courts and ever-expanding government as the source of its strength.
The bill vetoed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer opened the door to the courts to determine the “sincerity of an individual’s religious beliefs.” The bill would have also “…require[d] that those claiming a religious freedom violation show that there is an actual religious belief behind their action, that they are sincere in their religious belief, and a state action has placed a substantial burden on their religious belief.”
In other words, Christians and other “religious rights” activists were supporting a bill that would require them to defend the validity of their faith in the courts; courts, mind you, which they don’t particularly trust to begin with. That’s playing into progressive logic, strengthening government power, and generating even more business for an already porky legal system.
Regarding the existing rights of private enterprise, the bill was redundant. Private business owners across most of the United States, including Arizona, already “have the right to deny service to gays” and anyone else they choose:
It is not currently illegal for a business to deny service to someone because they are gay. Some cities in Arizona have ordinances against it but there is no state law against it. If business owners in Arizona wanted to deny service to gays, they could do so in most of the state under current law.
That’s not discrimination, that’s free enterprise. Stop burying yourselves in cries of “persecution” over wedding cakes and get busy touting the fact that the Constitution and the free market were designed to create a fair and level playing field. Use the laws we already have instead of trying to “perfect” them with even more legislation that is a mere means to a progressive end. Quit your whining and play to win.
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