Something occurred to me while listening to the issue of discrimination demonstrated in Arizona. There is this idea, creative idea, that anything in life is up for religious discrimination. In other words, some religions carry more status to discriminate because of their rules to live by.
In most Free World countries a house of worship is a matter of privacy. Buildings where religion is practiced has the same right of privacy as a home would, in that, activities are private.
Religion is a private matter. While a person has a right to practice their faith they have no right to impose it on anyone else. It is that understanding that is left out of the argument about discrimination in anyway due to religious preference.
The degree of privacy allowed to people is important. Personal space. But, when that person exits areas of privacy and enters a public practice or place, the rights of that person ends as to the type of activities allowed. No one is allowed to have sex in public. That activity is a matter of the practice of privacy rights.
The reason all these 'laws of imposition' are viewed as illegal, including vaginal probes and ultrasounds in abortion clinics, is because it is an invasion of privacy. When a person walks into a place of business the very last thing anyone expects is to be asked to leave because of discriminatory ideas about religion. Businesses where the public seeks services are outside the realm of privacy.
There was a time in the country when everyone understood that unwritten and unspoken law. Private practices applied to private places. Religion is one of those things. It is a personal allegiance to god. Abortion falls into that category of 'personal space' for obvious reasons.
I wondered what would be the answer to the gay community if Governor Brewer signed the bill into law? It would mean the gay community in Arizona would set up services for gays that may or may not be available to others. Then I realized that was segregation. Then I looked at how gays in the past segregated because of discrimination that was not legislated and I thought of Harvey Milk and San Francisco.
The nation has all kinds of arguments coming before the Supreme Court this year that involves exactly these issues. The arguments to the bench have to include the fact that religion is not a public practice in our society whereby it dominates every aspect of life. The arguments have to return the perspective to the laws that puts privacy back inside a sanctuary, be it a house or a place of worship. The arguments also have to put the privacy back into an woman's identity when it comes to carrying a pregnancy to full term or not.
A tent is illuminated as Afghan asylum seekers camp inside the Church
of Saint John the Baptist at the Beguinage in central Brussels February
6, 2014.
In most Free World countries a house of worship is a matter of privacy. Buildings where religion is practiced has the same right of privacy as a home would, in that, activities are private.
Religion is a private matter. While a person has a right to practice their faith they have no right to impose it on anyone else. It is that understanding that is left out of the argument about discrimination in anyway due to religious preference.
The degree of privacy allowed to people is important. Personal space. But, when that person exits areas of privacy and enters a public practice or place, the rights of that person ends as to the type of activities allowed. No one is allowed to have sex in public. That activity is a matter of the practice of privacy rights.
The reason all these 'laws of imposition' are viewed as illegal, including vaginal probes and ultrasounds in abortion clinics, is because it is an invasion of privacy. When a person walks into a place of business the very last thing anyone expects is to be asked to leave because of discriminatory ideas about religion. Businesses where the public seeks services are outside the realm of privacy.
There was a time in the country when everyone understood that unwritten and unspoken law. Private practices applied to private places. Religion is one of those things. It is a personal allegiance to god. Abortion falls into that category of 'personal space' for obvious reasons.
I wondered what would be the answer to the gay community if Governor Brewer signed the bill into law? It would mean the gay community in Arizona would set up services for gays that may or may not be available to others. Then I realized that was segregation. Then I looked at how gays in the past segregated because of discrimination that was not legislated and I thought of Harvey Milk and San Francisco.
The nation has all kinds of arguments coming before the Supreme Court this year that involves exactly these issues. The arguments to the bench have to include the fact that religion is not a public practice in our society whereby it dominates every aspect of life. The arguments have to return the perspective to the laws that puts privacy back inside a sanctuary, be it a house or a place of worship. The arguments also have to put the privacy back into an woman's identity when it comes to carrying a pregnancy to full term or not.
A tent is illuminated as Afghan asylum seekers camp inside the Church
of Saint John the Baptist at the Beguinage in central Brussels February
6, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Francois Lenoir
(Reuters) - Hundreds of Afghan refugees (click here) have set up camp in a Brussels church, protesting against their imminent deportation to their home country, which they say is not safe.
Sitting in the heart of Brussels' trendy Saint Catherine district, with renowned fish restaurants and designer fashion stores, nothing on the outside of Saint John the Baptist at the Beguinage hints at its temporary residents.
Inside, however, half of the church is filled with tents and makeshift beds. People sit on the floor to eat their lunch and children run around the 17th century baroque church's nave.
The refugees say they fear they would be killed or be forced to join terrorist groups if they returned to Afghanistan.
"We are afraid to die, to go back to die or to join a group of Al-Qaeda that is against humanity," said Samir Hamdard, the 29-year-old spokesman for the group....
(Reuters) - Hundreds of Afghan refugees (click here) have set up camp in a Brussels church, protesting against their imminent deportation to their home country, which they say is not safe.
Sitting in the heart of Brussels' trendy Saint Catherine district, with renowned fish restaurants and designer fashion stores, nothing on the outside of Saint John the Baptist at the Beguinage hints at its temporary residents.
Inside, however, half of the church is filled with tents and makeshift beds. People sit on the floor to eat their lunch and children run around the 17th century baroque church's nave.
The refugees say they fear they would be killed or be forced to join terrorist groups if they returned to Afghanistan.
"We are afraid to die, to go back to die or to join a group of Al-Qaeda that is against humanity," said Samir Hamdard, the 29-year-old spokesman for the group....
