It seems that the Catholic and until recently, common view of marriage, has in the eyes of the state become inherently discriminatory. And of course it is, since it limits marriage to two parties of complementary sexuality.
Historically, marriage has been a means of securing alliances and producing children, but thankfully, people in this modern age marry for love, and to make their household finances a bit easier.
But discrimination is not always a bad thing. Without discrimination, physicists could not distinguish a proton from an electron.
Discrimination in this context means selecting against certain couples, and not against others. It’s different from determining differences.
]What do you imagine he has to do with ‘allowing’ marriages of any sort, he’s not involved in the marriage licensing process
Bad word choice on my part, fair enough.
There is also no evidence he was discriminating against customers at the market.
If he’s being slandered (not sure of correct legal term), then this changes everything.
Do you also think he should be punished if he didn’t want his children to marry outside their faith?
If he didn’t want that? No, though I’d probably assume a few stereotypes about him. He’s free to believe whatever he wants to, it’s acting on those beliefs that’s punishable.
And sexual preferences are no basis for confiscation of the constitutionally protected right of religofree exercise.
If my religion said those things I have a right to believe them, and exercise my religious freedom in the society at large. People also have a right to take their business elsewhere
You have a right to believe them, that doesn’t automatically grant you a right to operate a business run by those beliefs. To use a historical example, people believed that black people were unfit to use the same water fountains as white people, and we all saw how well that turned out.
Do we really want the government sanctioning people for what they believe, no matter how odious we find that belief? That sounds like a state religion. In fact it is. If people don’t want to do business with someone that is one thing. But for the government to prohibit someone from doing business because of his belief is something else.
No, absolutely not. I want the government to sanction people for how they act.
It’s already generally accepted that a hotel owner can’t turn somebody away for being black. I would hope that you agree with that, but if you do, that’s a different discussion altogether.
