(February 12, 2016 at 10:33 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: Religious liberty is more broadly is about freedom of conscience. A moral objection is a moral objection regardless of whether it is religiously motivated. Think pacifism. If you curtail the liberties of the religious you have also undermined everyone's liberty to act in accordance with their consciences, including atheists.
To a surprising extent, I agree with this. But the point is that you and I do not have a right to act in accordance with our consciences when doing so violates the law or enacts discrimination against one group or another. I could not, for instance, refuse to hire a Christian simply because s/he is a Christian.
A lot of noise has been made about the 'gay cake' issue. I make and sell guitars for a living. Suppose I refused to sell one of my instruments to someone who informed me that he needed it to perform at a Christian wedding. He's not asking me to appear at the wedding, he's not asking me to inlay INRI into the guitar, he's not asking me to take part in any way. But I consider Christianity to be bad for people. If I sold him the guitar, I would in some way be helping to confirm what my conscience tells me is a counterproductive worldview. In effect, I would be refusing service to Christians simply because they are Christians. For me to do this would be just as wrong as a baker not selling a cake for a gay wedding.
Freedoms of different groups in a society often conflict with each other, which is why laws are in place to accommodate different views.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
