“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” — Leviticus 19:18 (Hebrew scripture)
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” — Jesus in Matthew 7:12 (Christian scripture)Apparently, some group of leaders in Arizona — like groups of leaders throughout history — have decided to make a stand for “deeply held religious beliefs” like anti-gay sentiments because they claim Christianity as their religion. At first, religious freedom, and the right to exercise your deeply held beliefs in the marketplace seems like a reasonable– if controversial — idea. But let’s think about this …
What if an Islamic taxi driver wanted a law to refuse service to Christians because of his deeply held religious beliefs?
What if a female waitress wanted a law to refuse to serve men because of her pagan beliefs?
What if a transgender Buddhist wanted a law so they could refuse to serve heterosexuals because of their beliefs?
What if an African-American wanted a law saying they didn’t have to serve White folks because of their deeply held Black Muslim beliefs?
What if a Jewish couple wanted to pass a law so they could refused to serve Christians?
What if Native American casino owners passed a tribal law to refuse service to non-Native Americans?
What if atheists wanted to refuse to serve religious people of any stripe?
Would you be upset? Would you be howling at the indignity you suffered? Would you think they were bigoted against you? Would you think it unfair? Would you hold rallies against it and want your allies to join you? What if they publicly “excused” your anger because of your “ignorance” of their intent? Would that make it any better? Or would you just think it was a stupid, bigoted law?
Hey, it’s a free country and they have the rights to their deeply held religious beliefs. Just saying…
Arizona “leaders”, have you actually heard of Jesus or the God he claimed to have as his father? Do you really think you are defending them? Just asking… because I’m not seeing it.
Political “leaders”. Don’t you work for all the people of Arizona? Just asking… because I’m not seeing it.
Don’t all different kinds of people vote in Arizona? Just asking… Because clearly, you’re not seeing it.
Just saying…
Peace,
John
Because It Matters 
In the US, the law is quite clear that any person shall have equal access to purchase a product from any company. If I buy an item for $3.99 from BigBoxStore (or LittleboxStore), you also have to have the same access. End of story (although there are a ton of nuances like quantity discounts, and so on, where access, pricing, etc., might “appear” to be different – but none of those matter here).
However that doesn’t apply to other countries. For example, a few years ago I was involved in a project with a middle-eastern company, and they were *required by their law* to have a clause preventing any Israeli-supplied components whatsoever. (However this country, like many in the Middle East, does not subscribe to the same philosophies about discrimination that we do.
Discrimination is entirely acceptable in other forms, however. If you and I want to create the Bob and John club, and we want to exclude your wife on the grounds that she is a female, that’s completely acceptable. (This applies in many more significant ways, such as to the Boy Scouts)