Quote:
Originally Posted by Levin
It will be fascinating to see where the Free Exercise Clause will come down on this one. Can society discriminate against a religion b/c of its beliefs/actions? Well, if those beliefs/actions are polygamy, yes. If those beliefs/actions have to do with Christ's divintiy, no. Where does the law of chastity fall? Can the Church lose its tax exempt status b/c it discriminates against gays, like Bob Jones Univeristy did due to its discrimination against blacks? Would the Bob Jones case have come out differenlty if Bob Jones University was a religion? If not, is race different than sexual orientation when it comes to the Free Exercise Clause?
Those are the ideas I was invoking. You're right, as to private citizens and groups, they can ostracize all they want. But government can't. This is unchartered territory and it will be fascinating to see where the courts draw the line wrt the Free Exercise Clause and the restriction of government benefits based on a religion's discriminatory beliefs/actions toward gays.
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"Society?" The Constitution doesn't restrict "society" in any way.
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Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be.
—Paul Auster
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