The Discrimination Paradox
How religion is being used to justify discrimination.
When people think of religious freedom, it becomes apparent how many interpretations there are and how most are missing a very big component; If your using your religion to justify discrimination, it will always be overridden because eliminating human suffering is more important. Of course, the religious will slap their gums, with pitchforks in hand, screaming, “By making me go against my beliefs, I am suffering too.” Not being able to use your religion to discriminate against others, is causing you human suffering? If being able to discriminate is something you want to fight for, and you see that as religious persecution, you need to reevaluate your views. This is not what the first amendment was meant for. The thing is, even liberals fall into this trap, and claim that you shouldn't be forced to go against your religion, even if it means discriminating against others; of course they don't see it as discrimination, but allowing a person to practice their religion. If a white person doesn't allow an African American into their store because of their color, that's racist, but if a cake owner denies making a wedding cake for a gay couple, that’s covered under religious freedom. Both are forms of discrimination, but the problem is, most people are religious, across all races and genders, so this isn't seen as a problem, because it would mean acknowledging that their religion discriminates against others.
If you talk to a person long enough, you get to see how they really view the world. A few weeks ago, while I was working, a customer that regularly comes in, who knows I’m atheist and always tries to convert me. We laugh about it, and she usually leaves, saying, “I’ll convert you one day,” but on this occurrence she brought up free will, so I quoted Psalms 139:16 which clearly states that god predetermined all of our lives in advance. After I read the verse I said, “So that means, the Jews ,during the holocaust, could've prayed all day for god to save them, and they still would've died because god had a plan to have them all violently killed,” and what she said next made my co-workers jaw drop. Without a thought she said, “That is because the Jews tried to kill Jesus.” I looked to my co-worker and said, “see, I told you, if you talk to someone long enough, you see how they really view the world. She clearly did not see anything wrong with what she said, and so do a lot of religious people.
Luckily, president-elect Joe Biden said an interview published on October 28th by the Philadelphia Gay News that, “Religion Should Not Be Used as License to Discriminate.” Sadly, with Amy Coney Barrett now a Supreme Court Justice, SCOTUS now leans conservative, which may push the country in a direction that may allow legal discrimination disguised as religious freedom. With their first legal matter, they blocked Governor Cuomo from putting restrictions on religious services which was an extra measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, completely denying the science that restrictions work.
It took from the 13 colonies, to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, a span of 256 years, before America did something about its slavery problem. How long is it going to take before people will acknowledge that religious discrimination does not fall under the 1st amendment? The problem here is,according to a pew research poll, 82% of Americans are religious, so they see making them go against there beliefs as discrimination against them, which is not the case. This rationale is the equivalent of a robber breaking their leg in your home, as they're trying to rob you, and then suing you and winning; even though they were in the wrong. You don’t get to scream discrimination when you’re the ones discriminating.
