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The Past As A Weapon

Author Shelby Steele observes in his new book “Shame“:

“Liberalism in the twenty-first century is, for the most part, a moral manipulation that exaggerates inequity and unfairness in American life in order to justify overreaching public policies and programs……(It) is invested in an overstatement of America’s present sinfulness based on the nation’s past sins.”

He’s talking about the left’s racial politics but I believe what he says is also true of the demagoguery we’ve been hearing about Indiana’s and other states’ religious freedom laws.

I mentioned in a comment the other day that one of the morning hosts at WRAT said that in Indiana Christian doctors won’t have to treat Muslim or Jewish patients.  I presume he would include gays in the list of patients that will now go untreated in Indiana.

I am Jewish.  My doctor is a Christian.  My dentist is Christian too.  My nephrologist is a Muslim.  My optometrist is, I believe, a Hindu.  Yeah, my gastroenterologist is a Jew but in any case does anyone think that without some civil rights law forbidding it that any of these people would refuse to treat me because I’m a Jew?  Of course not.  And I am absolutely certain that if I were not only a Jew, but gay too, it would make no difference.  That guy on WRAT was probably born in the 1980s but he thinks he’s living in the 1940s.  Yeah, we’re not perfect and we never will be.  But we’re probably closer to perfect than any other country.

No law is needed to force a bakery to sell cupcakes or a loaf of bread to a gay person.  And I would bet that most bakeries are happy to make wedding cakes for gay marriages.  But if there are a few bakeries that serve gays bread and cupcakes just like they would any other customer but for religious reasons, or whatever reason, don’t want to participate in a gay wedding by making the cake for it, by what right do we force them?  They are not there by our pleasure and they don’t need our permission to make their livelihoods.  If a bakery exists that doesn’t make gay wedding cakes, are gays any worse off than if that bakery never opened in the first place?  If not, why, by simply existing, do they owe gays wedding cakes?  We may not like it, and we can choose not to do business with them, but it’s not right to use force against them.

BTW, will thousands of Jewish delis be discriminating this Sunday by refusing to serve Easter hams to their Christian customers?

13 Comments

  1. Cathi wrote:

    The woman florist in Washington State was ordered to pay a $1000 fine. In this case she knew the customer very well, considered him a friend. It was only when he requested “Wedding” flowers that she felt her religious beliefs would be violated. This is what Religious Protections are for. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/28/us-usa-washington-gaymarriage-idUSKBN0MO04C20150328

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 7:34 am | Permalink
  2. Just Passing Through wrote:

    #1 Cathi you are correct. These people are nuts!!! You cant make a Roman Catholic Church perform a Bar Mitzvah Or a Jewish Synagogue perform a Baptism! If it were up to them there would be no religion allowed or laws enforced.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 8:32 am | Permalink
  3. Tom Dilberger wrote:

    #2, You have some nerve bringing basic logic into the conversation.
    ________________________________
    Let’s take this idiocy another step. Why can’t a Klan Klavern bring their sheets/robes to a black owned cleaners and demand that he clean them? I love going one step further with idiocy.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 8:52 am | Permalink
  4. Just Passing Through wrote:

    #2 Sorry Tom I will try better next time.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 9:20 am | Permalink
  5. Teddy Ehmann wrote:

    Can I assume that if Belmar continues with the San Gennaro Festival including the reverse call to mass and the procession from the church-we risk massive leftist protests in September?

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 10:14 am | Permalink
  6. admin wrote:

    And unlike a private bakery, the festival is government sanctioned. I’m going to have to lead a Jewish riot.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 10:25 am | Permalink
  7. Just Passing Through wrote:

    #6 Admin can’t do on Saturday!

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 10:40 am | Permalink
  8. admin wrote:

    oops!

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 10:44 am | Permalink
  9. Tom Dilberger wrote:

    Can vegetarian restaurants be forced to serve carnivores meat??? There’s no end to where we can go with this stupidity.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 11:17 am | Permalink
  10. Just Passing Through wrote:

    #9 Tom, I just thought Animal Crackers really have to come from animals!!

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 11:39 am | Permalink
  11. Teddy Ehmann wrote:

    A Jewish riot other than at a sale is unheard of.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 12:46 pm | Permalink
  12. admin wrote:

    Actually it will be at the kosher cannoli line.

    Thursday, April 2, 2015 at 12:49 pm | Permalink
  13. Aghast wrote:

    Dear #11:

    Bias much? Why propagate stereotypes?

    Friday, April 3, 2015 at 4:00 pm | Permalink

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