Stupid Complaint #1: Mandatory Public Secularism?

Stupid Complaint #1:  “Your beliefs are fine for your personal life, but you have to set those aside when you operate in the marketplace.”   

Basic Reply: Free exercise of religion is a constitutional right, which does not cease upon entering the public square.

Further Explanation: The free exercise of religion is protected in the constitution.  It reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

This is not simply limited to the “freedom of worship” or “freedom of belief”.  It involves the freedom of putting those beliefs into practice in one’s life.  Thus, this right does not stop as soon as a person walks out the door of his church or home.

There is no legal requirement that a person must behave as a secularist as soon as he enters the public square.  That is just a gratuitous assertion made by secularists who wish to force their cultural assumptions on everyone else.  In reality, the fabric of our society is strong enough to handle things like Amish woodworking companies and kosher delis.  It can also handle Catholic schools or Christian bookstores too.

Now, this does not mean anything and everything is allowed as long as it can be chalked up to some kind of religion.  But just as we don’t want to limit free speech unless we absolutely have to, we should not restrict the free exercise of religion until there is no other choice.  Mere angst regarding the inconveniences induced by someone else’s free exercise of religion does not override the highest law of the land.

In any event, it will be found generally true that if a person doesn’t practice a religion in his own life – his estimation of the value of religious liberty will be cheapened as well.

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