Barronelle Stutzman became a focal point of religious freedom court cases after she respectfully refused to design floral arrangements that would have celebrated a homosexual wedding. She strived to remain loyal to her biblical faith, not wanting to use her artistic talent in any way that would celebrate sinful behavior. Unfortunately, after two cases with the Washington Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would not hear her appeal. You can read more about Barronelle’s fight for Christian freedom at Alliance Defending Freedom.[i]
As expected, many humanists celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision. Hemant Mehta, a popular atheist blogger known as the “Friendly Atheist,” blogged about this topic and posted the blog on his Facebook on July 2nd 2021 with the following introductory text: “Being Christian doesn’t give you a right to discriminate.”
Yet, what if we turn the tables? Do humanists believe that they have the right to “discriminate” based on their religion of humanism? Humanist TL (as always, names are abbreviated for privacy) commented on the Friendly Atheist’s Facebook post, so I decided to pose the question to her to see what she might say.
TL:
If your religion gives you license to discriminate, find a different religion.
Kevin:
TL, Let’s say that you are the owner of a flower shop or cake bakery. A Christian enters your shop and asks you to make an artistic design that includes the following passage from the Bible:
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” –1 Corinthians 6:9-11
My question to you is this: do you assert that you have the constitutional right to refuse this requested service, in order to protect your freedom to practice your religion of humanism? (I assume that you’re a humanist). In other words, do you have the right to “discriminate”? Or, should you be forced to use your artistic expression against your humanist religion by making an artistic decoration that promotes the aforementioned Bible verses?
Normally, when I comment on an atheist Facebook page, I immediately receive multiple replies from more than one humanist, as evidenced by the other debates that I share on my Unmasking Humanism blog. Yet, as I checked this thread up to one week later, there was nothing. I can only speculate why I did not receive responses. Perhaps some humanists realized that any attempted rebuttal would have to defend a double standard regarding religious freedom.
For now, religious freedom in this nation enabled me to share that key passage of scripture from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV). That passage of scripture offers truth, justice, and mercy, and provides an eternal hope for those who repent. The materialistic, evolutionary worldview offers no basis for immaterial concepts such as truth and justice. Neither can their worldview offer any basis for mercy, hope, or authentic freedom. Authentic freedom, freedom from slavery to sin and eternal condemnation, can only be found by trusting in God the Son, Jesus, who paid the penalty for sin by dying on the cross, and rising from the dead.
[i] “Devastating News: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Barronell Sutzman’s Case,” Alliance Defending Freedom, accessed 10 July 2021, https://adflegal.org/blog/devastating-news-us-supreme-court-declines-hear-barronelle-stutzmans-case.
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