The big discussion as of late has been about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which many states have now either adopted or are in the process of adopting. The discussion being should a business owner be allowed to turn away a potential customer based on them being part of the LGBT community. To be fair, it can also be worded as, should a private business owner be forced to be part of an LGBT wedding if you’re a baker or photographer. They are two sides to the same coin and the wording of each can conjure up a different set of emotions from one person to the next.

For me as a Christian I think that it’s just a new way to discriminate against a group of people. It bothers me that after everything we have gone through as a nation, that this is where we are today. It’s 2015 and here we are debating if it’s OK to deny someone a service solely on the fact that a person is gay.

Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce.. -Civil Rights Act of 1964

If you want to believe that being gay is a sin, fine so be it. It’s your opinion, but I believe they are born that way. Really no different than being Black, Asian, man, or woman. You just are what you are and no one should be able to withhold services from you based on that. So with that being said the LGBT community should be added to the protected groups. People argue that this is more about practicing your religion than it is being a bigot, but I find it really odd that the majority of the states that are pushing for “religious freedoms” are also the states which allow companies to fire someone for being gay.

If this law exists in hit’s current form, where does someone’s religious freedom stop and end. Could a couple be refused entrance to the movies based on being gay? Could a waitress/waiter refuse to wait on your table based on the same premise? Could a person for example refuse service to someone else who doesn’t share your same faith? This is the divisive slippery slope that our country can find itself in the middle of if we aren’t careful.

For anyone who is in support of this law I’d like to ask, why are gays the hot button issue? If your stance is that homosexuality is a sin, then why aren’t you as worried about other sins? You’ll do business with unwed single mothers, people of other faiths, and people who are getting married for the second, third, or fourth time. So it leads me to believe that this is less about not wanting to be associated with sin, because in all honesty we are all sinners, and more about casting judgement on the next person’s sin.

We all have shithead qualities, instead of trying to make someone else feel less than, lets start accepting one another. Supporting one another and letting God figure out judgement when the time comes.