Posted by
Bob Siegel on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:11:41 PM
Brace yourselves for another unbelievable law! Actually, there will be one thing about this story easy to belief. It takes place in California. If it happened anywhere else, you might have to suspend belief. Guadalupe Benitez visited the North Coast Medical Group in 2001, seeking artificial insemination. Two Christian doctors refused treatment on the basis that it violated their personal, religious beliefs. They did offer to refer the young woman to other doctors and assured her that many would be willing to perform this procedure. Well, that wasn't good enough for Benitez and she filed a lawsuit. The suit was based on a law that bans discrimination due to sexual orientation. Finally reaching the California Supreme Court a few days ago, the judges ruled in her favor.
Says Benitez, "It was an awful thing to go through. It was very
painful, the fact that you have someone telling you they will not help
you because of who you are."
I think Miss Benitez is missing the point: The doctors were not
refusing to help her because of who she is. They were refusing to help
her because of who they were! They were Christians, with their own
identities, their own beliefs, their own standards and their own morals. Neither were they
refusing to help her at all. They did not slam the door in her face. They
offered assistance in finding another doctor. Why was that not good enough?
Could it be because she was intolerant of their beliefs?
What about religious liberty? What about religious discrimination? The good news, is that the California Supreme Court remembered such rights do exist in the California Constitution. But remembering this right, is the only thing they accomplished. Actually defending that right, would have been even more of an accomplishment. They claimed that religious liberty, while protected in the constitution, was not an excuse for discrimination. Hmm...Makes sense to me. Why should these robed men defend one's belief in God, when they think they, themselves, are God?
Supposedly, we live in a country that guarantees separation between church and state. Those words are not actually found in our constitution, but let's put that aside for a moment. To those who embrace this principle of separation, tell me, how come the separation never works the other way? Why is it that doctors are being forced to compromise their beliefs, while secularists fight for the right to not even have to look at a manger scene on somebody's front lawn? Why is it that God cannot be defended in a college class room, but a professor can rip into Christianity in a public classroom? I'll tell you why: Because the people who squeak about separation between church and state do not really want separation. They want Christianity to be made against the law, and it is starting to happen one step at a time.
What our constitution actually says is, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
Call me a romantic, but when doctors are told that they cannot practice their profession in step with their religion, is that not interfering with the "free exercise thereof?"
What's next? Will it be considered discrimination for a Christian church to ask for Christian beliefs before accepting one as a member? No, not so long as we change our definition of repentance to exempt homosexuality. If not, we are the worst hate mongers on earth and we do not deserve to practice our religion. In the name of tolerance, our religion will no longer be tolerated.
The is Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious.
Other articles about Christianity by Bob Siegel
1)
Skeptical Questions About Christianity (Apologetics)
Can The Existence of God Be Proven?
If The Gospel Was Fake, This Would Have Been A Really Dumb
Thing To Include
Did Jesus Fulfill Bible Prophecy? Isaiah 53
Was
Jesus The Promised Messiah? Daniel 9
Just
What Is It About Genesis That You Find So Illogical?
Is The DaVinci Code Something to be Taken Seriously?
Try
To Follow This Logic: If God Exists, God is Real.
My Brief Time In the Occult
How Do We Know Which Manuscript Copies Truly Belong In The
Bible?
Why Are There Different Versions of the Bible?
Three Questions That Test Your Friend's Opinions
The Day God Gave Me One Hundred Dollars (And Believe Me; I
didn't Deserve It)
The Day A Scholar Said Scholars Aren't Scholarly
Why
Do Most People Think God Will Not Talk?
A
Biblical Case For Authentic Healing: No, I Don't Mean That "Name It, Claim
It" Nonsense.
Does the Bible Really Speak About the Future?
2) The Nature of God
Does The Bible Teach That God Is Everything or that God Created
Everything?
Of course the Trinity is Impossible! Haven't You Ever Studied
Math?
Does
God Have a Sense of Humor?
3) Questions About Jesus
Was Jesus Gay?
Was Jesus A False Prophet?
Did Jesus Really Claim To Be God?
Did Jesus Really Claim to be The Messiah?
4) Moral Objections to Christianity
Oh, That Horrible Christianity!
Subsiding All The Passion Over "The Passion"
Was Judas Forgiven?
If You Don't Like Her, Take It Up With Jesus
Behavior Not Even A Christian Apologist Can Defend
Evidently Christians Don't Hold A Monopoly On Stupidity
A Pro-Choice Christmas Card?
Are Christian Ministers Just In It For The Money?
Got
A Beef Against Religion? You May Have Something In Common With Jesus!
5) Questions About Church Life and Church Practices
My
High View of Church Kept Me From Church
Is Persecution Good For The Church?
Are Christians Expected to Keep the Sabbath?
Is Tithing Really Biblical?
The Prayer Game
Oh Yeah? Well David Did Alot of Stupid Things
I
Rolled Down The Window So God Could Hear Me A Little Better
Children
Cry and Parents Deny
Trouble
in Paradise
He
Told Me My Prayer Was Not A Valid Prayer
How Should We Pray For Healing?
That
Other Thing We Committed Ourselves To As Christians
6) Theology Questions
Cherry Picking Our Doctrines
St. Bob's Epistle To The Calvinists
Baptism:
To Dip Or Not To Dip
7) Christianity and Its Relationship To Other Religions
Is Mormonism Really a Cult? Let's Finally Settle This Once and
For All
How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part One
The
Mystery of Anti-Semitism: Have You Heard The One About the Jew and the Nitwit?
How To Cause A Muslim Freudian Slip
Calling God Allah: What's In A Name?
Christianity, Judaism and Islam: Comparison
8) Christianity and Its
Relationship to the Rest of the World
Does
Jesus Belong on the College Campus?
Can A Christian Be Pragmatic?
The No Longer Sacred Santa
I'm Not Doing It For the Warthog and the Pine Cone
Now Kids, Keep The Name of the Holiday a Secret
9) Assurance of Salvation
How Does One Become a Christian?
Can't I Accept Christ On My Deathbed?
What is the Unforgivable Sin and How Do I Know If I've
Committed It?
Does The Bible Teach An Age of Accountability?