Trimming discrimination

Wed., March 18, 2015

In her March 13 letter to the editor, “Respect religious freedom,” Clare House defends the choice of Arlene’s Flowers to deny service to a same-sex couple based on religious beliefs.

It should not be necessary to remind her that it wasn’t long ago in our history when Christians regularly discriminated against blacks, Jews, those of other faiths, and even women, based on religious beliefs. Laws have since been passed to eliminate that behavior, and recent legislation now includes sexual preference and gender identification in those things that define the “public.”

While the owners of an enterprise are free to practice their religion in the privacy of their own homes, or in their respective churches, they do not have the freedom to ignore the laws of this country when conducting a public business.

Daniel Schaffer

Spokane

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