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All the focus has been on Christian bakeries. How about Hasidic or Orthodox Jewish bakeries? Will they be forced to bake cakes for Baptist weddings? And all those Muslim bakeries? Will Muslim bakeries be forced to bake cakes for catholic baptisms? Will Jewish bakeries be forced to bake cakes for German Octoberfests? I started out feeling like it was appropriate to force businesses to provide services to everyone equally. That isn’t where I ended. The more I looked at the situation, the more capacities I saw for abuse. Forcing individuals to do acts against their beliefs and will, simply because they were engaged in commercial trade, is wrong.
Giving equal access to a product is important. That is a far different thing than giving someone the ability to dictate your future decisions, actions, and choices. The reality is that there are 1000’s of little businesses that serve niche markets. There are businesses for gay weddings, for bar mitzvahs, for Mormon receptions. Don’t try to force those businesses out of their niches markets. It won’t go well.
amateurparent – I’m sure those situations happen all the time. I had a friend who right before she was going on her mission worked at a restaurant that served alcoholic drinks, and she was required to serve them should the patrons order them. She was months away from a mission, and imbibing with liquor isn’t in her beliefs. But her job isn’t to make sure her beliefs are followed by others, it was to serve what people ordered. Another example: if I ran a public bakery (IE anyone in the public can come in and order from my store by exchanging money), and a Scientologist couple came in wanting a cake for their Scientology based wedding, am I allowed to refuse to serve them? I certainly don’t believe their doctrines. But they’re coming into my store, to give me money to buy my product. What they use it for is honestly not my concern. Should toilet paper companies stop selling toilet paper to teenagers who TP people’s houses? Should farmers not sell their eggs anymore because someone could cook them wrong or just eat them raw and that’s not what the farmer wants for their eggs? If there’s this whole Libertarian streak, maybe it should be used to allow others to do what they want with your product. A business is a business, not a religion. And I don’t think anyone should be in the business of dictating what other people do with their lives by virtue of restricting their products to only those who walk, talk, and see like they do. If you want to own a public business, do so. If you want to have certain clients come to you and you choose whether or not you provide services, then do that. But I think where we get into trouble is those who want both. Also, I think it may be worth noting that despite Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby, this seems to be more of an issue for small businesses rather than larger, national, international corporations. Does that affect the situation at all, does anyone think?
I think this simply underscores the fact that religious beliefs and business practices often collide. We hear inspiring stories of people who refused to do this or that (work on Sunday, drink alcohol, etc) and were ultimately rewarded for their faithfulness. We want to be a part of that same story too. And yet, the reality is that the majority of the untold stories are about some kind of compromise. If you want more examples, Google “Mormon farmers grow malt barley for beer” or “Marriott hotels and pornographic films”. On a regular basis, most of us are probably compromising our standards as we make our way and our living in this complex modern world. I do recognize that the issues listed above are nowhere nearly as explosive as the issue confronting the pizza place and different bakeries but strict adherence to your moral values is going to have economic and political consequences no matter what the business is. Particularly in today’s climate. Dancing Carrot: I see a difference in custom services and “off the shelf” products and services.
Anyone should be able to walk into a commercial business and buy anything that the store has currently for sale off the shelf. The niche business is where — in my mind — it gets complicated. Small niche businesses all seem to focus on custom work for a very narrow clientele. Broad laws that sway too far either direction are set up to abuse one end of the spectrum or the other. We need King Soloman’s wisdom.
On the other hand, in my anesthesia world, I did my first hysterectomy on a man a couple months ago. He had a uterus that was giving him trouble. He needed a hysterectomy. Really tall hairy DUDE didn’t really need that part anyway. His transgender status, his life choices, none of that was my business. He just needed care. I could do that.
Quote:I see a difference in custom services and “off the shelf” products and services.
That is a distinction I respect and even can accept, assuming there are enough off-the-shelf options to provide everyone the basic service. In other words, if there are cakes available for a wedding in the general area, even if they are simple and all the same design, I can accept not forcing someone to customize cakes. If, however, someone is in the business of providing customized cakes to “the public”, I believe that person should be required to provide customized cakes for all people who are part of legally recognized protected classes within the public – with exceptions for some possible wording on the cakes, as already is law.
Again, for me, at the core, this is a legal issue, not a religious one.
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