What the "Religious Freedom" People Really Want, Part One

 

What the “Religious Freedom” People Really Want, Part One

Many extreme conservatives consider themselves to be evangelical Christians. Of course, what they are doing is making Jesus look like the source of all hatred. This is the opposite of evangelism, in which Christians should want to make people like Jesus, not hate Him.

But there are two things that the “religious freedom” people actually want. The first, which I here address, is that no business be required to offer its services to people whom the business CEOs do not like. If a store owner dislikes (or hates) gays and lesbians, they think they should not be forced to serve them. Let me explain why this is a supremely evil idea.

If these Christian businesses operated in a total vacuum from the rest of the world—that is, if all of their money came from other Christians and only from them—then they might claim the right to not serve people whom they, without God’s approval, condemn. I used to work at a so-called Christian college that rejected federal guidelines about discrimination. But they refused to accept any federal money, even scholarship money for the students. Apparently, this was legal.

But there are no businesses that operate in such a vacuum. Every business, even those like Hobby Lobby who claim this right, receive some federal money, even if indirectly. That is, their employees get federal money.

That is, these pseudo-Christian businesses accept, at least for their employees, taxpayer money, but they refuse to serve certain taxpayers. This means that gays and lesbians pay taxes but have federal benefits denied to them. These businesses take taxpayer money then refuse to pass along government benefits to their employees.

One would think that conservatives would be really upset about Americans being taxed while being denied the services for which their tax money pays. But, so long as it is people whom the conservatives hate, then it does not matter if they are required to pay taxes for benefits that they do not receive.

Their attitude toward people they don’t like is, tax them and then tell them they are going to Hell.