How do you feel about bakers refusing to bake a cake for a same sex wedding?
Generally, I am libertarian on business. I do not believe anyone, anywhere, has the right to demand that you work for them, whether you intend to pay them or not.
During slavery, there were in fact slaves that were paid. Being paid, didn't make it ok that they were forced into working.
Some years ago, almost 10 years now, through a really odd situation, I was asked to leave a business, where they decided they didn't want to serve me. It didn't bother me one bit. I simply went elsewhere. It never crossed my mind, that I was entitled to the labor of other people, and I had the right to demand they work to serve me.
So I don't believe in public accommodation laws at all. I think you are free to do with your own property, as you see fit. And if you own a business, and you don't want to serve people who wear tank tops, then I think it should entirely be your choice as to who you serve and who you don't.
As for the Christian view on whether a business owner should be involved with something unbiblical, there are two schools of thought on it, and I personally can see the pros and cons of both sides.
So first, there is no question whatsoever that homosexuality is a sin, and considered evil by G-d. That isn't a debatable point.
Second, there is no question whatsoever that same sex marriage is unbiblical. The Bible clearly says that G-d himself defined marriage as between a man and a women.
Therefore the only question is, are you yourself engaged in something evil (as a Christian), when you provide services to people engaged in something evil?
As I said, there are generally two schools of thought. One is simply, no it does not. Someone else engaging in something, does not reflect at all on you, and you should just serve people as best you can.
As long as you are not directly engaged in the act of evil, then it does not apply to you.
And generally I don't expect pagans, to live like Christians. Now if you say you are a Christian, and are doing something evil, then I have a problem. But if a Pagan, says they are a pagan (meaning: Non-christian), and they are doing something evil according to G-d, then what is that to me? Why would I expect non-christian people to follow Christians standards of a G-d they don't believe in?
So when I see Christians screaming at for example, a Victoria Secrets store, like they did some years ago, I think those Christians need to mind their own business.
The other school of thought is that your labor is directly being used to support an evil act. Yes, you might not be directly participating, but you are most certainly aiding the action.
This is like someone asking you to drive them to a quick mart, and then to a bar. The guy robs the quick mart, and then goes drinking. Are you guilty? Well it depends on if you know. If you know he intends to rob the quick mart, that makes you an accomplice. Your labor and effort, is being used in the commission of a crime.
Well to a Christian, homosexuality and same-sex marriage, are crimes in G-d law, and if you are knowingly allowing your labor to be used in the commission of a crime, then you could be guilty.
So I can see validity in both views. Both have arguments to be made in favor of each.
And by the way, the same is true in any other evil.
So when I was younger and going to my parents church, we had a lady there that had been going there for some years, and then she lost her mind. (at least to me, she lost her mind).
She married one guy, and then divorced him. I still don't know to this day, what the story was behind that.
However, she decided to marry a second guy, and the church leadership determined she really didn't have good grounds for marrying someone else. To make matters worse, the guy she wanted to marry was a divorcee, and he clearly didn't have grounds for divorcing his original wife. And then lastly, it turned out he really was not a Christian.
First they tried to hire the church to do the wedding, and the church leadership refused to marry them. Then they tried to rent the church, and just have a pastor of their own come and marry them. We had rented out the church numerous times before, but because we knew what they wanted to rent it for, and knew it was wrong, we denied them to rent the church.
They both left the church.... until a few years later when she ended up being beaten by the man, and divorced him.
We ended up asking her to leave later though, because she started dating her 17 year old daughter's boyfriend. Felt real bad for her daughter though. Sad sad situation.
Regardless, because we viewed what she intended to do as evil, we wouldn't allow her to rent the church for a wedding, which we had done numerous times before.
But back to the main point.... I can see both sides of the argument, and there are good points to be made for both. As for me personally, I don't know what I would do in that situation. It's like running a bed and breakfast. Do you rent a room out to people who don't have wedding bands on, and list different last names? I know a Christian bed and breakfast businesses, that if you are not wearing rings, and have the same last name, then you can't rent a room. And others that don't have a problem with it, obviously.
So I don't know what I would do. I suppose I would have to be in that situation, before I would have to make a choice on how I view it.
