Refusing Service

I have my own religious beliefs, and while I may *wish* that others were of a similar mindset, I would never think to impose my beliefs on others, particularly if the other person has no expectation of a confrontation. If I wander into someone else's church, I am fair game for persuasive discussion. What I do not understand is why normally sensible people think they can bully someone into changing their viewpoint. Even if the other person caved and agreed, everyone knows that is not from the heart - the change is not sincere. This goes for the (so-called) Islamic State, but also closer to home.

I read a news report "Kentucky Clerk Sued Over Marriage Licenses - 
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis states that her Christian beliefs prevented her from complying with the decision, so she opted to not issue any more licenses to couples regardless of their orientation."


This goes far beyond simply making a point If gay marriage is such a major insult to your belief system, find another job. Will you refuse to update civil records (or whatever else county clerks do) if one partner in a same-sex marriage changes the last name to that of the other partner? It seems to me that you can no longer do your job, so move on.


This line of thinking can spread beyond a county clerk, or even beyond the marriage issue. There are other religious tenets regarding marriage.

So if I am an Orthodox Jew or observant Catholic or Muslim, I can deny marriage licenses where one party is Jewish/Catholic/Muslim and the other is not? Not necessarily forbidden (the Bible does not specifically *forbid* same-sex marriage either) but frowned upon by those religions.

Divorce and remarriage without an annulment is against Catholic Canon Law, so I won't issue licenses to anyone who is divorced.

My church teaches that the purpose of marriage is procreation, therefore I won't issue a marriage license to the elderly.

I am a grocery store cashier, and I won't sell you bacon because my religion forbids pork.

I am a grocery store cashier, and I won't sell you coffee because I am Mormon.

You'll need to ask another waitress for a glass of wine because alcohol is evil and I won't serve it.

This can go on and on. If your job is a publicly-paid position, such as a county clerk, then you don't get to choose which laws you will comply with or which job duties you will perform. If you are in a job which serves the public, then completing the duties of the job is a requirement.

Now, churches are a different matter altogether. Churches have always restricted their sacraments to their members in good standing. Religious institutions should be able to decide how to apply their tenets to their members.

Private businesses are where things get tricky. I don't have a problem with the Hobby Lobby decision IF:

• Hobby Lobby gets no government perks or tax breaks from the public as a whole.
• The employees knew upon hire that certain medications/procedures were excluded from their health care.
• The employees NEVER had access to this coverage (as in their insurance coverage did not change).

In some respects, this is no different from a restaurant owner declining to sell alcohol or pork in the first place because those items violate the owner's religious beliefs. There are plenty of local businesses here in the South which are closed on Sundays. Not a change - it's always been that way. Everyone here knows Chick-fil-A will be closed on Sundays. Employees know this upon hire that they won't work on Sundays regardless of their own personal beliefs. I'm ok with health insurance limitations as long as applicants understand this from the beginning, and it was not available before then suddenly taken away due to new ownership. 



This type of service refusal, in the name of religion, is just nasty and in conflict with Christian teaching, and probably everyone else's as well. People can't be bullied into seeing another point of view.