Ultimately, Religious Freedom May Not Mean Religions Can "Do whatever we want."


Right wing religious people who want to claim they can turn gay couples away from housing, fire them from jobs and refuse to provide whatever service they request may not be as successful in the long run. The Fuller Seminary booted a gay man for having a partner. What a court will decide is not yet known.

Since the beginning of Christianity followers have used it to impose their will over others. I suppose this is true of all the major religions. It is one of the general problems of religion.

It was true of slavery and later segregation. Religious bigots tried, and are still trying, to limit the rights of citizens who are attracted to the same sex. They successfully lobbied for prohibition of alcohol. They want the right to refuse to rent to unmarried couples, gay couples and, I predict, mixed race couples. Those in medicine want the right to refuse to sell or provide medicines for abortions.

One thing religious zealots are not good at is the long game. They are so certain of they are right they lose the ability to see their own arguments can and will ultimately be used against they themselves.

The link refers to suspicions religions institution of higher education, Fuller Theological in this case, has been making exceptions to their religious standards when parents are big donors. It might be, for example, a gay student is allowed to stay on campus if parents are wealthy. As the case of the gay couple which Fuller is trying to dump goes to trial new information about how it handles other such cases may come to light.

Inevitably, if Christians are allowed to discriminate against non Christians, non Christians will be allowed to discriminate against Christians,

Comments

  1. Matt NoahDecember 4, 2019 at 4:30 PM

    I'd prefer the so-called bigotry of an authentic Christian to the so-called tolerance of an anti-theist.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ardy BDecember 5, 2019 at 2:19 PM

      Matt “authentic Christian” How would you characterize an “authentic” Christian?

      Delete
    2. Matt NoahDecember 5, 2019 at 7:02 PM

      An "authentic Christian" is person whose actions leave no doubt as to who he or she follows as a model for their lives - Christ.

      Delete
    3. Ardy BDecember 6, 2019 at 3:41 AM

      As a so-called tolerant non-theist, I find it difficult to identify an authentic Christian through the pretentious display of bigotry and bling I often encounter. Maybe it takes an authentic Christian to recognize another. Or possibly the model being followed is a flawed representation of the original. But how would we know. Thanks.

      Delete

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