Religious Persecution or "You keep using those words, I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

     It is time, the Redneck said, to talk of many things.  Of cakes and caterers, florists and Queens (Sorry couldn't resist, DON'T HIT ME DON'T HIT ME!)  Lately we have been hearing a lot of noise coming from those who feel they have the religious right (Oddly enough the noise has been coming from the Religious Right about religious rights.  Go figure.)  They steadfastly hold that they have the right to forbid service to anyone that they disapprove of and by anyone of course, we are speaking of Homosexuals.  They think that this right is given to them by the 1st Amendment which as we all know is the "Right to wear plaid socks" Amendment.  (Wait, what did you say?  Freedom of speech and religion?  Not plaid socks?  Whups, my bad.  No wonder I flunked Civics.)

     Now before you panic and think, "Oh no, not another lecture about how downtrodden the Gays are and how evil the Bakers and Florists are," let me assure you that this little tirade has very little to do with equal rights, who marries who or who bakes what cake.  No, have no fear, this little rant is about one of my favorite things to talk about, HYPOCRISY!

     So ever since the first baker (Or was it a pizza place?  So many bigots so little time.) announced that they would not serve Same Sex couples and claimed the right to do so based off their deeply held religious beliefs, I have claimed that these so called Christians would go absolutely Sape Pit if the tables were turned and someone refused them based on their own deeply set beliefs.  People laughed at me (Well okay it may have been the plaid socks) for saying this and said, "No, Christians would never do that."

     Well after seeing several more rants today about the right to refuse service, I decided to drop everyone a line and say simply, "I TOLD YOU SO!  See not too long ago, the not so great state of Minnesota passed their version of the Religious Freedom Act which would basically let any business discriminate against...Well anyone.  (Sure it was mostly aimed at Same Sex Couples, but pretty much covered anyone they deemed bad.)  Immediately the uproar began about how they were being bigots and the law was actually...well against the law.  The Governor and other potted plants ignored the hoopla or poo pooed it as being silly.  With me so far?  Good, lets keep going!

I'm madder than heck and I ain't going to take it anymore!

     So as the law meandered its way through its young life, it inspired people.  Well, probably not the people that the writers of it had hoped to inspire, but it did inspire people.  Suddenly people, companies and entertainment groups essentially said, "Fudge this.  We don't want to do business someplace that shows such blatant bigotry" and they started pulling out.  Millions, perhaps even billions of dollars in potential revenue was on the cusp of being lost because of the RFA.  In other words, people were deciding they had the right to not do business with people that they found offensive.  Now you'd think all of those proud, pseudo Christians would be happy.  Here were other groups doing the exact thing they were.  Fair is fair right?  Right?

     Guess what people started yelling as soon as this started happening?  Yup, you guessed it.  RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION!  Seems that it was okay for them to discriminate against people they found offensive, but some sort of war on Christ for anyone else to do it to them.  They claimed that they were being attacked because of their religious beliefs because people were choosing not to do business with them.  Guess it boiled down to Freedom for them but not the same Freedom for others.  Kind of a "Don't do what I do.  Do as I say do" of thing.

     I hold firmly that no public business and especially not an elected or appointed official such as clerks, judges etc have the right to refuse to serve anyone, even if they don't like them.  However, if you do chose to be a bigot, then don't get to peeved off if the rules you use for yourself come back and bite you in the buns  (Bakery joke, get it?)

End of Rant

PS:  Before too many people get honked off at me, I am not speaking about Christians as a whole.  I am associated with a lot of good Christians who do not judge or condemn anyone because of their beliefs or actions.  I speak exclusively of all of the hypocrites out there who give mouth service to being Christians but lead lives that I am pretty Jesus would have gone WTF over.  So don't stress about it too much, odds are I wasn't talking about you.