Religious freedom bills start slippery slope

“Religious freedom” legislation that has been passed or is being discussed in more than a dozen states is a slippery slope to allow business owners to discriminate against anyone they are not willing to provide service to, and is legislation that must be fought.

As a foreword, no one is advocating that people’s religious freedoms be infringed upon. It is everyone’s right to practice any religion they choose or to not practice any religion at all. However, when a person becomes a business owner, it is not their right to use their religion to decide who they will render service to under the guise if it is going against their values.

In the past two months, Indiana and Arkansas passed “religious freedom” bills and recently, Louisiana state representative Mike Johnson (R-Sherveport) introduced the “Marriage and Conscience Bill” which would prevent business owners from being discriminated against for their views on same-sex marriage. According to Johnson, this extends to people who are both for and against same-sex marriage, and called it a way to protect people from being discriminated against by the government for their views on what defines a marriage.

However, let’s not be naïve here. Rarely has the American government targeted anyone because of their religious views. This bill is the same as the bills introduced in Indiana and Arkansas that provide an avenue for business owners to refuse service to anyone on the basis of religious or moral values, and that creates a slippery slope towards all types of bigotry.

We also have to be mindful of the fact that it was only some 50 years ago that black Americans were being refused service for something that was of no fault of theirs. Yes, it was mostly to do with skin color, but there were some pockets of people who believed that they should hate people who did not look like them on religious grounds.

Again, no one is making sweeping generalizations of business owners with strong religious values. As with most things in this world, the majority of people will do what’s right regardless of what options are presented to them. However, there is that one percent of the group who will take things too far and it is that one percent that makes legislation such as this dangerous.

The United States does not have a state religion for a reason. Some of this country’s first citizens were those escaping their homelands because of religious persecution. Written into the Bill of Rights is the freedom of religion, to varying degrees or none at all and the separation of church and state was a tenant the founding fathers built the country upon.

The only things that should keep a business owner from rendering service to anyone is the cost of the service and ability of the customer to pay (two things which are also debatable, but for another time). Besides, with divorce rates as high as they are, we should be applauding anyone who can forge a successful marriage regardless of their sexual orientation.

We don’t need the government stepping into create laws like these. We don’t need to backslide as a country back to the days when businesses could pick and choose who they served. Moving forward is the only option, and these bills are anything but progressive.

After all, all money is green and the goal of owning a business is to make money regardless of where or whom the money is coming from.