It's not my point of view, it's a fact - gay marriage is entirely secular, it's a civil contract. It has no religious connotations whatsoever.
I respect anyone's Christian faith. Practice it in your own life proudly. But, you see, when you operate a business, you're supposed to conform to the requirements of the civil law. The civil law, after all, bestows protection on your business, and affords you the advantages of an ordered environment in which to profit from your endeavors. And one of the simple requirements of the civil law is you don't discriminate arbitrarily, whether you cite your "religion" as justification or otherwise.
Practice your faith but don't impose it on others. Especially by humiliating your customers just for being who they are, and for what? For the "sin" of seeking the very services you said you'd provide?
It is your point of view. You need to own that, it doesn't make it wrong and I don't mean that as a put down. We both have to realize we don't see this eye to eye.
You have a valid point, regarding rights. Allow me to cut this down to the basics. On it's most basic level the law exists to protect rights.
To elaborate for a moment on my point of view, perhaps if we aren't on the same page you can lean over and read from my page for a minute, and I'll try to do the same. From my point of view man is a spiritual being, C S Lewis in the Screwtape letters referred to man as an 'amphibian' both physical and spiritual. Therefore we would be working against our own faith to follow Christian principles in the home and on Sunday and then bow to the demands of the word the rest of the week. Many other Christians feel the same, as noted on this forum.
Marriage, to the Christian is a God given institution. Don't discount that point of view, and I'll try not do discount that you see it as a civil relationship. Therefore marriage specifically falls under the God's commands from his Word. For a Christian to participate or support a marriage outside of the commands laid down in God's word is a serious sin.
As an aside, don't knock Christians for daring to practice their faith on the job. For the most part it helps them to be honest, hard working, and encourages them to turn the other cheek when mistreated instead of going postal.
Getting back to basic's, the law exists to protect the rights of the citizens. People ought to be free up to the point their actions infringe on someone else's rights; that's freedom in a nutshell. Hopefully, this is the common ground between our views.
So here's the issue as I see:
Is it an infringement of the rights of customers for the business owner to discriminate against them?
Is it an infringement of the right's of the business owner for force them to sell goods or provide services against their will?
If yes to both, which is the greater infringement and why?
I'm curious if you'd be willing to take a stab at the question from this framework.
