The Masterpiece Cakeshop court case, ruled that a baker had the right to deny a gay couple a wedding cake due to his religious freedom.
Conversely, the Trinity Western University case denied a proposed law school the right to contractually obligate its students to engage in heterosexual marriage (as opposed to homosexual marriage).
I have previously discussed the victim mentality prevalent among right-wingers, who frame opposition to their bigotry as an attack on their rights. For that reason, I wasn’t inclined to do a blog post on either of the aforementioned cases. I’ve laid out my arguments before, and I also grow tired of trying to talk sense to an audience that has no willingness to heed facts.
The Trinity Western case came up while I was work, where I read a newspaper column by someone who thought the Trinity Western University (TWU) ruling was a slippery slope to Canadians losing their rights. “Religious freedom” is the go to word, and just like “freedom of speech,” it seems like there is a collective misunderstanding of the term.
Canadians are allowed to go to church, identify as Christian and wear religious symbols. Now, the latter part does face some restrictions when it comes to places of work. The same way some work places ban hijabs, some also ban items such as rosaries. The goal is not to infringe religious rights for individuals, but to keep the workplace neutral.
The TWU case does not affect the school’s religious rights. TWU is still allowed to identify as a Christian university and gear its curriculum towards the goal of developing “Godly Christian leaders.” The fact that the Supreme Court said the school can’t ban gay marriage for its students has no relation to religious freedom. The court did not say every student must participate in gay marriage or that none of the students are allowed to participate in “traditional” marriage.
Like free speech, religion is another crutch for bigots. If your religion says you can’t bake a cake for a couple due to their sexual orientation, or that you must outlaw gay marriage for a university’s students, maybe it is time to rethink the religion.
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