Religious Freedom

There has been a lot of furor over Indiana's Religious Freedom Act.  It isn't surprising since the motivation to write the law was to try to bring some sanity to the hysterics surrounding the gay rights movement which is barreling through our civil arena like a runaway freight train.  The law was never intended to sanction unrestricted commercial discrimination against openly gay people.  It was intended to protect Christian people.  "Protect them from what!?" is the usual reply.

The disconnect lies in philosophies.  The gay friendly philosophy assigns the individual as his own lord and master and there is no moral authority above him.  Through this outlook he is allowed to go where he pleases and do what he wishes and that obviously includes within his sexual sphere.  Since he can only see in the one dimensional earthly plane, he has no fear of the sacred or of higher obligations.  Thus, it can only be through unfair discrimination, an internal decision of the offender, that commercial service could be refused.  That, of course, cannot be tolerated.  On the other hand, since there is no higher authority, there is no reason such a person could not be persuaded, by force, into a more tolerant position.  So now we have the media war over the Indiana law which swirled around the pizzeria, a small business.

The Christian philosophy certainly holds that there is a higher authority, God almighty.  God has taught through scripture and His Church that the gay lifestyle is gravely evil and can only result in the eternal spiritual death of anyone who engages in these acts.  Before I am accused of being a homophobe, I need to add that any sexual activity outside of a church approved marriage is gravely evil and carries the same penalties.  And here is the pivot point of the whole argument.  What is a marriage?  A marriage is a union of a male husband and a female wife which was solemnly approved by the Church who is the steward in these matters for God.  The marriage sacrament is defined by God and administered by the Church.  There is no other authority which can redefine any part of it.  This summer the Supreme Court of the United States will issue a ruling on the constitutionality of state laws which prohibit same sex marriage.  I expect that they will strike down all such laws and that the civil right of same sex couples to marry will be universally recognized in the United States.  The huge problem lies in the fact that the Supreme Court has no such authority.  It will still be a grave evil and add to that the sacrilege of various churches "celebrating" such unions.  These are grave sins and there will be hell to pay.

Clown judges lead souls to hell.

That brings us to the shop owner's moral catch-22.  Let's use the Indiana pizzeria's owners as an example.  If an openly gay couple strolls into their pizzeria and orders a large pizza, there is no problem and there is no discrimination.  Indeed, I will fight anyone over their right to engage in any lawful commerce.  The problem rises when they ask the pizzeria to cater their wedding.  This is something no good Christian could do because the wedding itself is sacrilege and seriously offends God.  No one expects the pizzeria owners to cater to a bank robbery.  The Religious Freedom Act was an attempt to protect those shop owners who in good conscious could not ever support the travesty of a same sex "marriage'.  Shop owners around the country have been losing their livelihoods over this very issue.  Any shop who routinely does wedding related business has been feeling this heat.  As for forcing them into a more tolerant attitude, one would be foolish to try, because in the end it is a simple decision to surrender the business and home in order to save one's eternal life.  That is why the law was written and that is why we will never have civil peace as long as our people fail to turn back to God and surrender these morally evil philosophies.

Follow Christ!  Live His commandments.  He will show you the way to peace.