Earlier this month, Mississippi governor Phil Bryant, signed a law that allows business owners to refuse service to people who are gay. The premise of the law is to protect “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions,” including the belief that marriage is only between a man and a woman and that sexual relations should only occur in such a marriage. It also says that a person’s gender is “determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth”.
My personal belief is that I will live in Heaven for all eternity, because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior. To me that means that Jesus loved humanity enough to sacrificially become a human and suffer death by crucifixion to pay my debt of sin, so that I will not perish eternally in Hell. I do believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected three days after his death.
Given my belief as a follower of Christ, I am deeply ashamed of those who stand behind the Mississippi law, and others like it, where the tenets are supposedly religious protection. The Holy Bible is the book I hold as the God-breathed and inspired authority for my beliefs. While I am far from a theologian or Bible scholar, I can not recall any Scriptures which call for people to refuse to serve others who do not ascribe to beliefs and behaviors similar to their own. In fact, per my understanding, the Bible speaks strongly, through various stories and commandments, about displaying love, compassion, charity, and service to ALL people. The Bible tells of Peter being rebuked for his prejudiced attitude and behavior.
There are tons of other “religious” beliefs aside from mine. Never though, have I heard of any religion that encourages, embraces or supports the mistreatment or disservice of others. Most religions espouse values of love, kindness, compassion, humility, service, forgiveness, grace, and mercy. It therefore baffles and angers me when laws are passed which allow behaviors with opposite characteristics of most religions. You and I may disagree about what is moral, and that is fine. No matter what we believe to be moral, we should not enact laws based upon those beliefs. It is impossible to legislate morality.
It hurt and angered me to find signs online that refused service to: “niggers”, “homos”, “Jews”, “women unaccompanied by a man”, “sand niggers”, those who do not support the Confederate flag, and those who “don’t speak fluent English”. Those were images of real signs on businesses! In America! In 2016! If those business owners want to refuse service to groups of people they don’t like, that is their prerogative. I believe it is an insult to every religion I know of to use a law to turn away a group of people based upon who they are having sex with. If that is the case, why not refuse service to the adulterer or the person having pre-marital sex?
Simply stated, I’d rather see laws reflective of the motive and behavior of the Good Samaritan.
dionnerbell.com 
My thoughts are this, religion leads to segregation. I’m a believer in God, Son and The Holy Spirit. Its interesting to note that the same bible we were taught to believe in ALL of our lives is literally, THE KING JAMES VERSION, and we’ve ALL learned by now that he, in fact was gay. So it begs to question why we needed a “version” of the bible at all. Not until recent centuries did we as American’s, within our generation even know there were different version’s, other than the fact that it was written right there on the front of that coffee table bible. It seems as though the more homosexuality became prevalent within the United States, the more slowly, but surely, people became more accepting to the point that we actually have laws on it, knowing what the bible says about it universally, and the first thing people want to say about it is, “I don’t have a problem with it as long as it doesn’t affect or effect me in any way.” Even if they by and large don’t speak it, it seems to be the general attitude. Being a believer doesn’t allow us to escape the realm. These are the days and times we’re currently living in, and guaranteed, we all know, work with, live around and come in contact with gay people every single day, beknownst or unbeknownst to us. Just like any other genre of human beings, they’re no different other than who they choose to sleep with which is none of my business, just like who I sleep with is no one’s business. Hmmm, HUMAN BEINGS. HUMAN BEINGS. HUMAN BEINGS. My niece asked me at the ripe little age of when she was three, after she heard me say the phrase, she said “Auntie what is a human being?” It floored me, but I told her its a man, woman, boy or girl. The dictionary says this, “A human. Homo sapiens. A person as distinguished from other animals, or as representing the human species.” It says nothing about a race or a sect. Do Africian American’s, homosexual’s or Jewish people have a particular denomination of currency that allows someone to know when, other than the obvious qualities, we are within the presence of one another other than assumptions? Are we using identifiers on currency stating who should or shouldn’t be allowed? If this is the attitude, we’re ALL in trouble! But guaranteed, I will never want to be in or around people who think to believe they’re so elite, based on who they THINK they are. How about we all take a DNA heritage test, then let’s have real talk with one another, shall we?
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Ladydiamondt…When I say you went DEEP…Whew! So appreciate your insight and perspective. Thank you for sharing.
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Wow..2016
These are the people who twist the words of the Bible to fit their point of views. I learned thru a situation I was going thru to not judge people. Although we may not agree with the lifestyle, does not mean we treat people anything less than how we want to be treated. This is why it is important to read, vote..act!
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Well, Mississippi that about says it all remember its only been a few years since they abloished slavery (2013). I read it somewhere; a man who will stand for nothing will fall for anything. Some people will hide their bigoted ideas behind religion. So what do we have here: being a child of The Living God I to have my short comings (sin), I too have some issues with homosexuality, and even some of the races included in the blog. An ignorant person, no matter what the race or religion, is still an ignorant person. What I find myself doing is trying to allow for growth, and to be accepting of others, who are not like me, because someone may find me to be among the ignorant.
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Fitz your comments are always very insightful. Thank you for sharing so deeply.
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As a business owner that serves the public I had to make a decision. Would I do a wedding cake for a gay couple. Ummm I sure would. As of April 9, 2016 I sure did. The law says their marriage is legal. Who am I to refuse them because I don’t agree with their life style. It doesn’t affect me as a person. I’m not partaking in their act. I really don’t understand their act but neither do I understand how some male and females think they are ready for marriage. It ain’t my business. I don’t see anything right about a man being with a man or a woman with a woman but that’s between them and God. Truth be told Jesus hung with the outcast of society because the religious folk thought they knew it all. As long as they respect me as a person and keep it at a business level then I’m good. That doesn’t mean I agree. I’m a business woman who makes cakes for Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings etc.that’s all.
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Very well said Denise. As a person who owns a business, you make it a practice to not be concerned about the bedroom BUSINESS of other folks. You touch on a very important point, which is respect for each other. Thank you for your comment.
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