It’s all up to the governor now – the governor of Arizona, that is. The state legislature there passed a bill that has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans; from the ACLU and the state Chamber of Commerce; from religious leaders and private business owners (such as the Tucson Pizzeria owner who has declared that he “reserves the right to refuse to serve Arizona legislators”). The hastily passed SB 1062 ostensibly guarantees the right of businesses to deny service to gay and lesbian customers on the grounds of religious conviction. Proponents say it protects religious liberty. The Center for Arizona Policy says the law “protects your right to live and work according to your religious faith” in a time when “we witness hostility toward religious faith like never before.”
Please.
The law is so broadly stated that it allows businesses to refuse anybody for any reason as long as they claim to do so on religious grounds. So I wonder how most Arizonans would feel about a fundamentalist Muslim car mechanic refusing to fix a flat tire for a Christian on the grounds that he will not serve infidels? Does this mean a grocery store owned by a fundamentalist Christian can refuse to sell food to an unwed mother? Or better yet, suppose the “Lambs of God,” a notorious white supremacist group, owns a restaurant and refuses to serve people of color? Hey, that’s just their religion. Didn’t a Christian-based movement back in the 50’s and 60’s already deal with that?
There is no need to provide legal protection for the free exercise of religion. It’s already covered by the Constitution. Besides, if you are a genuine Christian evangelical business owner, you welcome the opportunity to hire or serve someone who doesn’t share your beliefs, because you then have a greater opportunity to influence and perhaps convert that person to your faith. (And nothing in the law would hinder your right to proselytize.) This law is a ruse. It is a cheap, cynical effort to use religion to justify outright discrimination. It is an attempt to write bigotry into the law.
It also illustrates one of the principle reasons why so many people are abandoning organized Christianity in the United States – not because they have problems with the Christian religion per se, but rather because they are fed up with people using religion to legitimize intolerance. It defies credulity that Jesus of Nazareth, friend of all the most dispossessed people in ancient Judean culture, would support the narrow-minded nonsense that too often is spouted in his name.
I really and truly understand that many Christians cannot bring themselves to accept gays and lesbians. I personally believe they are not paying attention to either the movement of the Holy Spirit in our time or the breadth of the scriptural witness, but as an American (and as a Christian) I respect their right to believe as they do. I do not care to attend a church that espouses outright condemnation of same-sex couples, but I wouldn’t want to live in a country that made such churches illegal. And I don’t. No church minister in America is compelled to perform same-sex wedding vows. No church is required to give equal consideration to gays or lesbians when hiring members of its staff. No church pastor is forbidden to proclaim loudly that homosexuality is an abomination or even that “God hates fags.” None of this is illegal. It is all constitutionally protected.
When Christians of any stripe claim that our society has become “hostile” towards them, they are not being honest – on two counts. First, social change that makes you personally uncomfortable is not “hostility toward religion.” Secondly, when have Christians ever had the right to expect that society would endorse them? Whenever the Christian church has been “established,” as in Europe during the Middle Ages, it has become the enemy of the faith it proclaims. It inevitably evolves into a tool of violence and oppression rather than an inspiration for peace and freedom.
One of the most cherished principals in this country is “freedom of worship.” That should never be confused with endorsement of any belief system. In fact, the whole point is that no religion will be endorsed. I could easily make the argument that much of American society is “hostile” to Jesus’ teachings, especially the ones about not hoarding wealth, but I don’t have a right to expect Congress to legislate the Sermon on the Mount, and I am grateful to live in a society where I can preach the gospel and lead a community to put it into practice without fear of persecution. Millions of my ancestors in faith served the Lord without ever knowing that freedom.
With regard to this awful bill in Arizona, the good news is that people of so many different interests have opposed it (including a few legislators who voted for it!) that Governor Brewer will probably veto it. The bad news is that legislation like this still has enough support to pass both chambers of a statehouse. As Americans, we tolerate the right to be intolerant. But as Americans and as Christians, we must not stand by while intolerance is written into law.
©2014 by J. Mark Lawson
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