Saturday, September 27, 2014

Terrifying Precedents

What do you think the response from the general public would be if the government started forcing people to violate their religion? I don't mean pass generally applicable laws in which there is a compelling government interest, like prohibiting human sacrifice. I mean along the lines of, "You will act in a manner inconsistent with your religion or else you will pay a fine. You will also attend re-education classes to make sure that you continue to act in a manner inconsistent with your religion."

This is actually unconsitutional. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects the rights of people to practice their religion. "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof," makes it sound like people can practice whatever religion they want, and that Congress, and by extension of the Fourteenth  Amendment, the states cannot prohibit them from generally practicing their religion or acting in a manner consistent with their faith.

But this is happening right here in the United States, right now. The state of New York has fined a privately owned family farm a sum of $13,000 for refusing to host a same-sex wedding. The couple that owns the farm does frequently open up their home to host weddings, as well as other public events. The argument by the state of New York is that the lesbian couple wishing to use their farm have had their human rights violated by the owners by refusing to host the wedding. New York classifies this private, family-owned farm as a "public accommodation" because they open it up to the public for events like berry picking, fall festivals, and pig racing. Therefore, by refusing to close their farm for at least a day to host this private event for someone else, they are discriminating in a public accommodation.

Except, that's not really the case.

Odds are, if this family is helping "greet and drive guests in their farm trolley, decorate the barn, set up floral arrangements, arrange fireworks displays, and provide catering" for the events that they do host, then they probably set up some kind of contract with their guests. I don't know what their business practices are for sure, but that is my experience with renting a privately owned space for an event. So this would seem to remove it from the field of public accommodation and into the field of private business agreements.

Two people or organizations have the right to make private business agreements. However, people and organizations also have the right not to make private business agreements with other people or organizations that they disagree with. And people have the right to disagree with people on the basis of religion. What is really going on here, is that the state of New York is prioritizing the rights of the lesbian couple to enter into a relationship sanctioned by the state over and above the rights of someone to hold a religious belief and act upon it.

The owners of the farm clearly believe in the Biblical definition of marriage, that being one man and one woman united for life with the intent of raising children. They also probably believe that by participating in a ceremony that contradicts this, making it a sinful endeavor, it will grievously burden their conscience. Many Christians, even though they themselves grievously sin, believe that they cannot endorse other's sin as well. This family probably views hosting this wedding in a similar way to knowing that two people are having an extramarital affair and not saying anything about it. Or to knowing someone has perjured themselves in court, and when they themselves are asked about it, perjure themselves to continue the lie. Now, I can't actually speak for them. But I clearly hold the same Biblical position on marriage and on acting on that belief, and this is how I feel about this issue.

There seems to be a growing belief among secular organizations that religion only applies to what happens on Sunday morning or at various times throughout the day, and nothing else your religion teaches applies during the rest of the week. Christianity is certainly not that. It is first and foremost believing you are dead. As a sinner, you are spiritually dead and have no way to actually live. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Only after you believe this can the good news that Jesus has died in your place and risen from the dead actually raise you back to life. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And as a result, you live according to how God has ordained that life should be lived. This is found most succinctly in the 10 Commandments:

  1. You shall have no other gods.
  2. You shall not misuse name of the LORD your God.
  3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
  4. Honor your father and mother.
  5. You shall not murder.
  6. You shall not commit adultery.
  7. You shall not steal.
  8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (You shall not lie).
  9. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor
Dr. Martin Luther's explanation of these commandments in the above link are incredibly helpful. Not that Christians expect to actually obey these commandments perfectly - in fact, we believe that we can't keep them perfectly. But we strive to live by them. Hosting a same-sex marriage implies that you condone homosexuality. At the same time, when you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman for life, and you do host said same-sex marriage, you bear a false witness. You lie to them, and everyone around you, about what you believe. And that can be a very difficult thing to deal with for some people.

I don't know the whole story here. But from what I've read, if someone refused to host a Christian event because they are not Christian, and they were slapped with a fine and "re-education classes", the ACLU would probably be up in arms. Because the government would be telling them what to believe. Because they would be violating the First Amendment.

The whole "re-education class" bit also scares the hell out of me. It means that the government is going to start telling people what they can and can't believe. If anyone thinks that that is a good idea, they should probably check themselves into a mental institution, because governments telling you what to believe leads to things like Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Soviet Russia, Communist China and North Korea. It leads to things like the Holocaust. It is more than a bad idea. It would be an atrocity for the US to descend to that level.

Governments can impose on some practices of religion - the Religious Freedom Restoration Act affirms this - but only when there is a compelling state interest in said imposition. Preventing the murder of someone is a compelling government interest. A private business agreement or the lack thereof does not constitute a compelling state interest. This lesbian couple can find another venue for their "wedding". The state does not have any compelling reason to force someone to contradict their beliefs in this issue.