Freedom of Religion Can Mean Harm to Others

 

A secular poster on a religious site recently wrote that right wing Christians do not carry the gene that allows them to understand consequences. So many Christians feel it is always open season on bashing opponents, and it does not occur to them opponents have available the same rules to bash them.

Decades ago when I was a mayor and protestors were screaming at patients entering the abortion clinic in our city there were others pushing back. People who supported abortion rights spoke out and sometimes carried signs among the protestors. 

For some months one of the loudest most aggressive protestors was a man who owned a small chain of hamburger carry out restaurants. One of the supporters of abortion rights suggested publicly her group might picket his restaurants. There were no plans or interest in actually doing this, just a suggestion of the idea. The man was outraged. "Why would anyone picket my restaurants when I'm only exercising my freedom of religion rights?" He disappeared from the protests soon afterwards. 

Some now claim abortion is part of some groups' religious tenets. To them, freedom of religion includes freedom to have abortions. Try to stop abortions violates their religious rights. 

The practice of using "freedom of religion" to bash other religions is not common everywhere in the U.S. It is practiced when cities turn down churches of non Christian faiths using the excuse theirs is "a Christian community." From what one reads on Christian web sites the practice is common in other countries. In Hindu and Muslim countries Christians are sometimes jailed or even killed. The excuse is that Christianity is so evil orthodoxy of other religions requires eliminating Christians. It is freedom of religion used to attack other religions. 

Christians would serve their own long-term interests by being cautious in their criticism of other faiths or those of no faith. Freedom of religion can bite back.