Religious Freedom Bill (Az)

[california boy]

 

Can you point out which specific posts have caused you to realize this?  It's a serious accusation so I think it's fair to ask you to defend it. 

 

Any of the post that advocate a business owner should be able to refuse service to whoever he wants.  Religion is just an excuse to be able to do that.  Did you miss those advocating that idea?

[california boy]

I think the question is framed wrong. I don't think those wanting to withhold services to gays and lesbians or birth control pills from women or whatever are really concerned that doing so will soil their saintly purity.

 

From a charitable point of view they are discouraging sin by not endorsing or helping with it and that opens a whole new can of worms. Following that stance we should be much more discriminatory. We should set a maximum BMI at which you are allowed to buy fast food to prevent gluttony, give a ration card for how much alcohol a week you are allowed to purchase to prevent drunkenness, and all kinds of other limits.

 

From a less charitable point of view they want to indulge in divinely approved hatred or bask in an air of superiority. The reason the Satanist cults and the like were latched on to by some segments of society is that it created a true evil to fight. It was easy because you did not have to deal with any worry that you are a Satanist so you avoid the discomfort of condemning a sin you commit. It is a cheap virtue with the added bonus of making you a hero fighting incredible evil while encouraging no action. I am always wary of cheap virtues. Usually when I feel I am being good it means I am leaning too far off of one side of the horse or I don't understand what the virtue actually entails.

I agree with you completely.  Just why is the whole gay thing such a HUGE deal to people who are not gay?  Simply because it is a sin they don't have to worry about committing, so they can demonize it as much as they like and feel self righteous that it is a sin they will never indulge in.  

 

The baker is a perfect example of this kind of animus towards gays specifically.  Is there any indication that they want to know what their cakes are going to be used for by their non gay customers?  Do they enquire if the cake is for a baby shower of an unwed mother?  How about a cake for someone who had committed adultery, gotten divorced and then is marrying the other woman?  How can anyone with a straight face say this is only about religious beliefs when it seems the gay issue is the only religious belief this baker and all the other businesses that want to discriminate against gays has.

[california boy]

Like I posted earlier, this law is going to only help break down the discrimination that exists towards gays in this country just like Prop 8 changed peoples attitudes towards gay marriage.  The more this gets discussed out in the open the more one can see that these kinds of laws are driven by prejudice towards gays and religion is only used to justify that prejudice.  

 

Freedom to Discriminate

[Calm]

How can anyone with a straight face say this is only about religious beliefs when it seems the gay issue is the only religious belief this baker and all the other businesses that want to discriminate against gays has.

The same conversation occurs in the context of supplying birth control and abortions and to a lesser extent fertility treatments which generally have nothing to do with homosexuality.

Perhaps you are not aware that the same arguments are being made because you don't pay as close of attention to those controversies? The supply of medical services is a bigger part of the religious freedom debate among my family at least...possibly because of a family member who was threatened to lose his ability to practice if he refused abortions or fertility treatments or birth control to anyone, even though he had a partner in the same office who could have easily taken those same clients.