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If you don't agree with
my behavior, does that make you a bigot?
If you don't like my
writing style and the way I communicate, does that make you hateful?
If you disagree with my
politics, are you a racist for doing so?
If you don't embrace my
Christianity, are you therefore a Christophobe?
How about smoking? If
you think it's bad for my health and for our culture at large, does that make
you judgmental and intolerant?
Finally, let's turn the
tables. If I am offended by your beliefs concerning my behavior, should a local
judge have the power to declare your objections harmful and therefore imply
that they have no legal standing or protection in a court of law?
Well, this past
December in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger, federal Judge Vaughn Walker
overturned California's Proposition 8 by saying this: "Religious beliefs that
[certain behaviors] are sinful or inferior…harm [those who practice such
behaviors]."
Judge Walker went further: "Many of the purported interests identified
by proponents [of Proposition 8]" he said "are nothing more than a fear or…dislike
of [the people who practice a given set of behaviors]."
Well, regardless of your politics or your religion this ruling should
send a shiver down your spine.
What Judge Walker just said is essentially this: If you disagree with
me behaving in a manner that falls outside the legal and moral boundaries of our
shared culture and if your disagreement is grounded in a religious belief—any religious belief—then you are a fear
monger and bigot and your views have no legal protection.
How does that make you feel about your freedom of religion and freedom
of expression?
You'd better agree with me because Judge Walker says you are a bigot
if you don't.