Religious freedom in Indiana (Page 5)

I can totally understand your point you are making, but here is the problem I have. It's when you start calling people's beliefs a "made up children's story". To me, that totally makes me disregard your whole post. You can certainly disagree with what people believe in, but when you start making fun of them and belittling their beliefs, it forces this issue back to square one. You could have ended your statement early and had the same effect.

I find the belief in god ridiculous. You don't have to agree. However, if someone around here started saying, "but in goldilocks in the three bears, we were shown that too large of a bed was bad, therefore everyone in this country must only use regular sized beds" you'd be telling me that I can't make others follow the rules of a made of children's story.

How is it that I come under fire for not believing in someone else's religion, while Christians are allowed to tell everyone else they're going to hell, and that gay people don't deserve to be treated with respect?

Well I'm sorry if I offended you. The point of that comment was to try and make people think for a second that not everyone believes in the same moral authority as they do.

I believe in firm beds and hot porridge!!

And.....judging from my tax bill, God hates me!!

I'm going to look for morel mushrooms......my day is ruined.

this is total bullcrap. What are they supposed to do? Start a new business of every type that only serves gay people?  That's an ignorant and stupid answer.

If you live in a city of white people, and you're the only black guy, they can't tell you, well just start a burger joint for all the black people. And a cake shop. And a book store. And a ........

If this is what y'all really think is right and fair, then there is no point in this discussion at all. Because you're bigots who will rationalize discrimination.  News flash, this ain't the country for you.  The country has decided that its high time to treat those of all orientations equally, and its going to happen, just like the civil rights movement before this. And women's rights. And the ending of slavery.

We're all equal, and we all deserve the opportunity and chance to be happy and have a good life. Hiding behind religion to hurt others is not freedom of religion, its freedom to persecute those who don't believe in whichever made up children's story that you think is the correct one.

The Right to Refuse Service: Can a Business Refuse Service to Someone?

At the heart of the debate is a system of anti-discrimination laws enacted by federal, state and local governments. The entire United States is covered by the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination by privately owned places of public accommodation on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. Places of “public accommodation” include hotels, restaurants, theaters, banks, health clubs and stores. Nonprofit organizations such as churches are generally exempt from the law.

The right of public accommodation is also guaranteed to disabled citizens under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination by private businesses based on disability.

The federal law does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, so gays are not a protected group under the federal law. However, about 20 states, including New York and California, have enacted laws that prohibit discrimination in public accommodations based on sexual orientation. In California, you also can’t discriminate based on someone’s unconventional dress. In some states, like Arizona, there’s no state law banning discrimination against gays, but there are local laws in some cities that prohibit sexual orientation discrimination.

So, no matter where you live, you cannot deny service to someone because of his or her race, color, religion, national origin or disability. In some states and cities, you also cannot discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. If there is no state, federal or local law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations against a particular group of people, then you can legally refuse to serve that group of people.

You might find this article interesting:

So, your statement is correct that I can't use my religious beliefs (or any other reason) to discriminate against a protected class, but that's it.  I can absolutely use my religious beliefs (or any other reason) to discriminate against anyone else as long as it doesn't violate the law.

I'm not saying it's right to discriminate and I'm not saying laws should or shouldn't be changed.  I'm merely stating what the laws are today.