Four state legislatures have recently passed bills that make it okay for a business to refuse to serve members of the public its owners deem objectionable for religious reasons. These bills have not become law, and the governor of Arizona, a Republican at that, made some very good remarks on the occasion of her veto. She pointed out that the bill before her, though it was couched as a defense of religious liberty, actually does nothing to protect religious liberty and does open the door to other social problems. Like discrimination.
My focus in this blog is Grace, not Law; but I respect the authority of the US Constitution almost as much as the Scriptures. Applying a similar style of literary criticism, I do not construe "the free exercise" of religion to include absolutely anything. That would be mindless legalism. Just as the right to free speech ends when you cry "Fire!" in crowded theatre, the boundary of the free exercise of religion ends at its interaction with society. Believe anything you want, but you cannot force your belief on anyone else, not under the U.S. Constitution.
Throughout the history of the United States, people have been trying to justify discrimination against one category or another of people citing First Amendment protection of their so-called Christian beliefs; but let me be clear about this: discrimination against either an individual or a whole category of people because of their supposed sins amounts to condemnation, and there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Do I have to cite the Scripture on that one? Do you good church-goers really think that you are somehow better than those people because your sins are not so bad? You do admit that you are not without sin, right? Well, Jesus made it clear that one sin is as bad as another. Adultery? It's just as bad if you merely lust after a woman in your heart. Murder? It's just as bad if you call your brother a fool. All sins lead to death.
You do not have to approve of any sin, but you do have to love your neighbor as yourself. And who is your neighbor? Anybody that God sends into your path. So lay down your self-righteousness, pick up your cross, and follow Him, the Lord Christ, the anointed lamb who gave himself for all of us. When the sins of someone else are revealed to you, the Christian response, that is, the response of those who are following Jesus the Christ, is to love and forgive, as He did and does. His message to a sinful world is not "y'all are goin' to hell!" but rather "your sins are forgiven!"
When you, a Christian, are brought into contact with a sinner, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Be the light of the world.
At the Bell n Pomegranate, I want to focus on things of the Spirit and how our beliefs inform our lives in this world. So settle in with a drink of new wine, and put your two cents in with mine. Just remember this is a publick house, and I expect a certain amount of civility; but that does not rule out controversy, nor even passion.
