Recently, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled that a bakery did not discriminate when it refused to bake a cake which would include Bible verses that called into question the appropriateness of a homosexual lifestyle. For the record, I believe that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission got it right.
The only problem is, in a previous case, this same commission ruled against a Christian bakery when it declined to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding. This kind of thing is happening more and more, and it is specifically Christians who are getting the short end of the stick every time.
And when the Christians try to stand up for themselves, they are pounced upon for being discriminatory. Perhaps you are aware of the firestorm that erupted when the Indiana legislature passed a law to prevent specifically this kind of hypocritical behavior by government bodies.
It seems that the problem lies in the fact that this commission, and others like it, do not understand how to make the critical distinction between religious freedom (freedom of conscience) and discrimination. They call the actions of the Christians discriminatory, then turn right around and label the act of the gay bakers legitimate because they are fighting against “derogatory language and imagery.”
Huh? Who are these people to make this kind of judgment? Whose values get to determine what is discrimination and what is derogatory? Obviously, the commission has set itself up to judge the motives of everyone. They get to decide the way people must think and act. They get to decide what is moral and immoral.
But this is not the way America was founded. America’s traditional belief foundation is Christian Theism. Based on this framework, freedom of conscience must not be violated by the government unless there is some compelling government interest. In other words, the government should not be allowed to force people to violate their religious beliefs – no matter what they might be. Using this value system, people are free to be Christians, or Buddhists, or Atheists, or whatever else they want to be, and to act in accordance with their beliefs.
The other worldview system now becoming prominent in America is Naturalism. This is the belief that there is no supernatural reality. Using this mindset, freedom of conscience is less important than imposing order on society. And since they believe there is no transcendent ordering force, the ones holding political power, rather than individual citizens, get to choose what beliefs and values must be followed.
In the current culture war battle, we see freedom of individual conscience going up against imposed government beliefs. The greatest problem with this approach is that if political power is going to be the ruling authority, someone is always going to be discriminated against – and who that is will change every time a new “ruler” takes charge.
For discrimination to be a real problem, you have to have a situation where people are being refused service because of the beliefs or actions of the individuals being served. In the current rulings against Christian businesses, though, the motive for refusing service has to do with the religious beliefs of the one providing the services, not with actions of the ones asking for service. The Christian baker really doesn’t care if the homosexuals go off and get married. They just don’t want to be forced to participate in the wedding. No one is keeping those wanting a cake from getting one. They must just go somewhere else to get it.
If we change value systems so that the Naturalist’s approach becomes the rule of law, the government automatically assumes the position of master who is able to force individuals and businesses to participate in activities which violate their religious beliefs. The problem is, when you start going in that direction, there is no end to what government can force people to do – all based on the preferences of those who hold political power. I really don’t think we want to go down that road.