Dan Mellis
Thorsredballs
If you own a business that seeks custom from the public you cannot discriminate in any way against certain members of the population, unless that non discrimination convention clashes with your rights, religion being one.
However, discrimination occurs all the time. I am discriminated against if I enter a restaurant without a shirt. Some restaurants require ties, and they won´t let me in without one.,
I was discriminated against in college, I couldn´t play in the big leagues after graduation, my skills were just not that good.
There is a fundamental right called the freedom of association. We all can associate with whomever we choose. A church has this right. It determines the criteria for membership, and in a true Christian church, practicing homosexuals cannot be members. I once knew a homosexual who was a member, but he
chose to remain celibate.
In the final analysis, your argument isn´t with me, or the Church, it is with God. Since you don´t believe in his standards, you want everyone to do what you want in certain areaś of their life.
Thank God for those Theists and Christians who wrote the Constitution, your rights are protected, as are mine, exactly as it should be.
I'm not sure on your law, but in the UK we have a set of protected characteristics (gender, orientation, religion etc) which are protected by law against direct and indirect discrimination. You can discriminate against someone who hasn't got a shirt on... but then again thats a choice and hardly an equivelance. Same thing with level of skill. You can train hard and get better. These aren't examples of discrimination.
Please dont suggest you can train yourself out of homosexuality or that forcing celibacy onto someone so that they can fit into the community they grew up in and/or be accepted by their family is in any way an OK thing to do - thats not offering a real choice at all.
Freedom of religion ends when it infringes on others rights. Your bible tells you to stone disobedient kids and have fences around your roof. Am I taking it that you have been following those as strictly as you have the "avoid the gays" thing? Because otherwise you're not doing it right.
And what about the freedom of association for homosexuals? Or are you saying your rights are more important?
No, my argument is with the church; I have no reason to believe that there is a god for me to argue with. Even if there were - its your church's actions which I have a problem with.
Theres an argument that several of the founders were atheist to some degree, but that's immaterial. Certainly, your constitution is. Are you admitting that the reason that the constitution is good is because it's not very religious? Because that seems like a point I'd make.
For argument's sake, I'll concede that the authors were devout christians. You're saying they wrote a great constitution, despite their religion...