In the wake of the passage of a RFRA in Indiana, one little pizzeria has become the focus of international attention. The response from the left to the Indiana pizzeria that claimed that they would not cater a same-sex marriage was swift and fierce, and with good reason. The response on the right has revolved around the so-called leftist "intolerance" of the religious beliefs of these business owners. Once again, the religious right displays a bad case of "nose blindness" when it comes to their own ever-growing mountain of dung.
First, let's get the simple thing out of the way, and clarify my point.
First, let's get the simple thing out of the way, and clarify my point.
- in·tol·er·ance (inˈtäl(ə)rəns) noun
-unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that differ from one's own.
synonyms: bigotry, narrow-mindedness, small-mindedness, illiberality, parochialism, provincialism; prejudice, bias, partisanship, partiality, discrimination; injustice, inequality
It seems to me that the intolerance in this situation was certainly not born on the left. It began with the pizzeria owners "unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behaviors that differ from their own." That is literally the textbook definition of intolerance. The typical binary thinker on the right who screams "intolerance" at this point seems to lack even the tiniest sense of irony.
The way I see it, the outrage from the left has absolutely nothing to do with religion; it has to do with discriminatory business practices. The right would have you believe that this is part of a fictitious "war on Christianity," but I'm sure there are plenty of real, "Love thy Neighbor" Christians out there that find this businesses assertions to be reprehensible, and moreover, completely antithetical to the teachings of Christ. And talk about a slippery slope. If you give businesses the right to deny service to a particular group of people based on their religious beliefs, what's next? Discriminatory hiring practices can't be far behind.
Let's face it, there are some weird religions out there. Some of them are actually borne of racism. (See: Christian Identity) Would it be OK for a business owner who belonged to this movement deny service to a black person? An hispanic person? A jewish person? In fairness, though, the Christian Identity cave-dwellers would be more likely to kill these people than to deny them service, but you see the point. Even the Mormon church has a distinctly racist vein running through it. Brigham Young, successor to Joseph Smith- founder of the Mormon church stated in Volume 10 of his Journal of Discourses:
The way I see it, the outrage from the left has absolutely nothing to do with religion; it has to do with discriminatory business practices. The right would have you believe that this is part of a fictitious "war on Christianity," but I'm sure there are plenty of real, "Love thy Neighbor" Christians out there that find this businesses assertions to be reprehensible, and moreover, completely antithetical to the teachings of Christ. And talk about a slippery slope. If you give businesses the right to deny service to a particular group of people based on their religious beliefs, what's next? Discriminatory hiring practices can't be far behind.
Let's face it, there are some weird religions out there. Some of them are actually borne of racism. (See: Christian Identity) Would it be OK for a business owner who belonged to this movement deny service to a black person? An hispanic person? A jewish person? In fairness, though, the Christian Identity cave-dwellers would be more likely to kill these people than to deny them service, but you see the point. Even the Mormon church has a distinctly racist vein running through it. Brigham Young, successor to Joseph Smith- founder of the Mormon church stated in Volume 10 of his Journal of Discourses:
Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.
I'll end this post with one of my favorite verses from the Bible. One that speaks to hypocrisy, which the religious right has displayed in spades over these RFRA laws.
Matthew 7, Verses 4 and 5
"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
Matthew 7, Verses 4 and 5
"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
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