Lawmakers claim Christian businesses have more rights than secular ones

The great American tradition of lawmakers trying to find a foundation for bigotry continues.

Quote:

A pair of Republican lawmakers claimed that Christian business owners had arguably more rights than corporations that uphold secular values. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) published a column at The Christian Post that compared environmental concerns to moral aversions to LGBT customers or birth control – although the lawmakers never specify those objections.

Okay, an interesting premise. Where are they going to take this?

Quote:

The column compares Chipotle’s decision to stop serving pork at some locations over environmental concerns to the religious rights some Christians have claimed in court battles over denying service to same-sex couples...

Hold on here. A company not providing a service to everyone is the same as a company saying it will only serve certain segments of the population? When Chipotle says they are only going to serve pork to customers named Ricardo based on their interpretations of environmental sustainability then get back to me bigot Christian businesses.

Quote:

The GOP lawmakers said conservative Christians had arguably more rights to choose their business partners than Chipotle because religious expression is protected by the U.S. Constitution and environmental concerns are not. “If a decision based on moral convictions is celebrated, shouldn’t a decision based on the free exercise of religion – a right guaranteed in the Constitution – be even more so?” the lawmakers argue.

Um, no. Religious expression is not the same as denying certain segments of the population a service you ostensibly provide to paying customers based on your interpretations of inane scribblings in some old book.





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