Sitting here watching MSNBC and I am just completely baffled by the fact that ANY human being would want a situation in which government FORCES people to do things that are against their religious beliefs when all they want is just to opt not to deal with somebody because the particular deal would facilitate something that violates their beliefs. This country has truly lost its way; truly lost touch with what it is supposed to be about.
And, of course, our intellectually dishonest Judiciary is at the root of the problem. Take this quote from the judge who ruled against Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman:
For over 135 years, the Supreme Court has held that laws may prohibit religiously motivated action, as opposed to belief,” Ekstrom wrote. “The Courts have confirmed the power of the Legislative Branch to prohibit conduct it deems discriminatory, even where the motivation for that conduct is grounded in religious belief.
Here's the problem with that paradigm: If you're going to go with the principle reflected in the first Amendment, you're not talking about "belief." You're talking about acting upon belief:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
That's not saying it's "hands off" for Congress only with respect to what people believe. It's saying it's "hands off" with respect to
the exercise of those beliefs. There is nothing in there that says, "Oh yeah, Congress, you can prohibit the exercise if it is discriminatory."
And, BTW, there is NOTHING in the Constitution saying Congress has the power to prohibit discrimination on the part of private businesses, etc. And it's not intellectually honest to say that giving power to Congress to regulate commerce between the States is giving it power to regulate what businesses do in terms of who they deal with, who they hire, who they fire, etc.
But intellectual honesty has never been an issue for our Judiciary on any level.