An Absolute Right to Refuse Service By J. Matt Barber
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Albert Einstein
once said, “Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands
it.” He was
right. In the
aftermath of the Arizona religious freedom skirmish, I have a few questions
for those who would presume to compel religious business owners, under
penalty of law, to “provide goods and services” to homosexuals in a way
that violates that business owner’s conscience. To wit:
If you
said no to any of the above, and you opposed Arizona’s cowardly vetoed
SB1062, then you’re logically inconsistent and need to re-evaluate your
position. To clarify
liberals, I know you have a difficult time understanding the “Constitution”
with its outdated “Bill of Rights” and all I’m not talking about refusing
business to someone just because he appears effeminate or she appears
butch, or even when that someone is an “out and proud” homosexual. I’ve never
even heard of a case where a Christian baker randomly refused to provide
baked goods such as a birthday cake to any homosexual, absent a scenario
in which those goods endorsed a message the baker finds repugnant (rainbow
“pride” cupcakes, “gay wedding” cakes and the like). I’ve never heard
of a single instance in which a Christian business owner arbitrarily said
to a homosexual: “We don’t serve your kind here.” And neither
can the left provide such an instance. Because it doesn’t happen. If it
did happen, it would be front-page news for a month. No, I’m
specifically referring to scenarios that have occurred and continue
to occur with alarming frequency. Situations in which Christian business
owners are being sued, fined or even threatened with jail time for politely
declining to apply their God-given time and talent to create goods or
services that require they violate deeply held and constitutionally
protected religious beliefs. It really
is that black and white. This was never about the person. It was always
about the message. It was never about “discrimination.” It was always
about liberty. Freedom, man. Because
‘Merica. While from a constitutional standpoint it’s not even necessary, that’s all the drafters of SB1062 and similar such bills have endeavored to do. Because government has begun alienating unalienable rights at a level unparalleled since passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, legislators have attempted to merely re-affirm the already existing right for religious business owners to live out their faith without fear of persecution or government reprisal. Seriously,
unless you’re fascist, who could disagree? Nobody should ever be forced
to spend their time and talent to endorse whether directly or indirectly
a message or event that he or she finds repugnant. I don’t care if you’re
Christian, pagan, black, white, “gay” or straight. That’s your God-given
right as an American. As a constitutionalist, I’ll remain consistent will you? If you’re a homosexual photographer, for instance, and, for whatever reason, you oppose natural man-woman marriage, and you choose to exercise your right to only photograph “gay weddings,” then knock yourself out. If I come knocking and want you to photograph my wedding, and you tell me to pound sand, I’ll suck it up and take my business down the street. And I
won’t even demand you be thrown in jail for it. See how easy that was? I mean, you’re a liberal. You’re “pro-choice,” right? Starting to get it? Well,
let me be clear so there’s no misunderstanding. If I’m a business owner
and someone comes in requesting goods or services that would require me
to violate my conscience especially my biblically-based, sincerely held
religious beliefs I will not, under any circumstances, provide those
goods or services. This is my absolute, non-negotiable, constitutionally
guaranteed right. No debate.
No question. No compromise. Martin
Luther King Jr. once said, “An individual who breaks a law that conscience
tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment
in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice,
is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Those
are wise words from a wise man. For purposes of today’s debate, however,
those words require a slight contextual modification. No “anti-discrimination”
law that presumes to remove the constitutional right of business owners
to operate their business according to conscience is worth the paper it’s
written on. Poo paper
for puppy. So, liberals,
knock off the Alinskyite obfuscation and conflation. Quit throwing around
all this “Jim Crow” crap. It belittles the legitimate civil rights struggle
and makes you look stupid. You’ve created an ugly and offensive straw
man and beat the stuffing out of him. I rarely
agree with “gay” activist Andrew Sullivan, but on the subject at hand,
he at least has a remedial understanding. Gloss over all the obligatory
“homophobe” and “bigot” nonsense, and he recently made a few
good points on “The Dish”: I favor maximal liberty in these cases. The idea that you should respond to a hurtful refusal to bake a wedding cake by suing the bakers is a real stretch to me. … There are plenty of non-homophobic bakers in Arizona. We run the risk of becoming just as intolerant as the anti-gay bigots [read: Christians], if we seek to coerce people into tolerance. If we value our freedom as gay people in living our lives the way we wish, we should defend that same freedom to sincere religious believers and also, yes, to bigots and haters. You do not conquer intolerance with intolerance. … I’m particularly horrified by the attempt to force anyone to do anything they really feel violates their conscience, sense of self, or even just comfort.
And besides,
as constitutional law expert Jan LaRue recently observed in an email:
“If they believe their own rhetoric, that we’re hateful bigots, why would
they even risk eating our cakes?” Why indeed? Yuck. Matt Barber is founder and editor-in chief of BarbWire.com. He is an author, columnist, cultural analyst and an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. Having retired as an undefeated heavyweight professional boxer, Matt has taken his fight from the ring to the culture war. (Follow Matt on Twitter: @jmattbarber).
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