Ministers Threatened with Jail/Fines For Refusing to Officiate at Gay Weddings

[Heywood]

Fucking goddamn apostates.

The Knapps ain't worth our time debating here.

Some weeks ago I debated with a friend of mine(who happens to live in the same Idaho city as the subject church/business) about why I agreed with laws that criminalized people falsifying applications to get jobs on farms to video animal abuse. He would go on and on about how the cows were being rapped and such. I told him his argument wasn't compelling that because unfortunately....if you are going to give people the right to privacy....some people are going to abuse that right in ways which facilitate them doing bad things.

The Knapps might be pieces of shit trying to game the system...or they might be sincere adherents to their religion. Unfortunately if you are going to grant people the freedom of religion....your just going to have to accept that some people will use it as cover to engage in behavior you don't like.

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That would be fine if they were only offering the religious marriage ritual, even if they were selling it. But according to their website they do have a marriage license office, which means that they are selling a product that is similar to a clerk's.

Also, nobody really brought up the first amendment, it's more about anti-discrimination laws.

emphasis mine.

That might make a difference. Should be interesting to see if it does.

I could see where they might be required to facilitate non religious aspect of the marriage....i.e. the license...the flowers...perhaps even the venue. I just can't see how a court could credibly compel them to preform a religious wedding ceremony if they don't want too.