Devout florists will no longer be coerced into providing their services for the nuptials of same-sex couples if a new law being proposed in Connecticut is enacted.
To protect professionals from violating their consciences, a Catholic Church lobbyist is asking the State Legislature's judiciary committee to codify the rights of business owners "opposed to gay marriage who have faced legal action elsewhere because they declined to provide goods or services to gay couples."
Last fall, the state Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples had the right to marry and Connecticut became the second state to recognize same-sex marriage, but no one could foresee the assault on the civil rights of florists, caterers, wedding cake makers and tuxedo renters that would ensue.
If the new law passes, gay nuptials will have to do without the services of those talented but principled people who have made America's small-town wedding halls the envy of art lovers all over the world.
Showing posts with label gay marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay marriage. Show all posts
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Separation of Church and State of Mind
On Meet the Press today, Mike Huckabee answered a question about punishing doctors for performing abortions: "I think if a doctor knowingly took the life of an unborn child for money, and that's why he was doing it, yeah, I think you would, you would find some way to sanction that doctor. I don't know that you'd put him in prison, but..."
After protestations that he would never "use the government institutions to impose mine or anybody else's faith or to restrict" others, Huckabee undermines that reassurance by saying he would ban all abortions "not just because I'm a Christian, that's because I'm an American," thereby consigning all those who don't agree that life begins at conception to the same status he gives illegal immigrants.
Therein lies the danger of Huckabee to the separation of church and state--that as a man whose faith "really defines me," his definition of issues would erase that traditional line without acknowledging it as all previous presidents have scrupulously done.
Even George Bush's fake piety, used by Karl Rove to swindle the Religious Right, never extended that far. Banning gay marriage disappeared as an issue right after the elections.
Commendably, Huckabee reassured Tim Russert he would include atheists in his White House, but the Constitution requires the President to be more than smoothly tolerant of others' beliefs or lack of them. If he is nominated by Republicans, whether or not Mike Huckabee understands that will be one of the main issues in 2008.
After protestations that he would never "use the government institutions to impose mine or anybody else's faith or to restrict" others, Huckabee undermines that reassurance by saying he would ban all abortions "not just because I'm a Christian, that's because I'm an American," thereby consigning all those who don't agree that life begins at conception to the same status he gives illegal immigrants.
Therein lies the danger of Huckabee to the separation of church and state--that as a man whose faith "really defines me," his definition of issues would erase that traditional line without acknowledging it as all previous presidents have scrupulously done.
Even George Bush's fake piety, used by Karl Rove to swindle the Religious Right, never extended that far. Banning gay marriage disappeared as an issue right after the elections.
Commendably, Huckabee reassured Tim Russert he would include atheists in his White House, but the Constitution requires the President to be more than smoothly tolerant of others' beliefs or lack of them. If he is nominated by Republicans, whether or not Mike Huckabee understands that will be one of the main issues in 2008.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Should the British Build an Ark?
While coping with the wave of car bombings, the most unflappable people on earth were being warned of even greater disaster this weekend.
The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, is telling them that recent floods around the country “are not just a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment on society's moral decadence...We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused."
The Bishop, a leading evangelical, made it clear that the floods, which have left thousands homeless, were brought on by recent legislation approving gay marriage.
The Rt Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, joined in the warning: "Instead of living as if we owned the earth we need to recover a sense of being participants in a web of life with responsibilities to other life forms and to our children."
The weekend forecast calls for more torrential rainstorms. There was no word on how “other life forms” would be chosen if an ark were built.
The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, is telling them that recent floods around the country “are not just a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment on society's moral decadence...We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused."
The Bishop, a leading evangelical, made it clear that the floods, which have left thousands homeless, were brought on by recent legislation approving gay marriage.
The Rt Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, joined in the warning: "Instead of living as if we owned the earth we need to recover a sense of being participants in a web of life with responsibilities to other life forms and to our children."
The weekend forecast calls for more torrential rainstorms. There was no word on how “other life forms” would be chosen if an ark were built.
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