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Religious Freedom
April 26, 2015

Imagine youre a florist. You own a flower shop. Imagine also youre an old guy like me,
except instead of the Navy you served in the Army in Vietnam. And then imagine a
couple of days after having been caught in an ambush back then where several of your
friends and colleagues were killed and others severely wounded, your platoon had
entered a little village called My Lai.
That day the memory of the ambush was still raw - in you, in everybody else in your
platoon. Some of you were so terrified you hadnt had more than a few snatches of
fretful sleep in over 50 hours. Others were so enraged that fights broke out over the
slightest provocation. Everyone was on edge . . . nervous, confused . . . disoriented.
Even worse, your platoon leader, a still wet-behind-the-ears 2nd Lieutenant, seemed
oblivious to everyones disquiet, either that or helpless to offer leadership that might
have helped yall work through the aftermath of that experience.
You knew there was a report that the village youd entered was a Viet Cong base. The
enemy, indistinguishable from every other villagers, could have been anywhere. The fact
that just about everyone you saw and everyone cowering in their huts was either a
woman or child only aded to your anxiety.
And then your lieutenant just lost it. He went berserk, ordering everyone in the village men, women and children - rounded up and thrown into a ditch. And he wasnt the only
one to lose it. There was mayhem. Some of the women and girls were gang raped.
Other villagers were shot on sight. And then he ordered everyone in the ditch fired on
and killed - hundreds of unarmed civilians. It was horrible - the worst massacre of what
the whole world came to recognize as a misbegotten, badly led, dishonestly reported,
immoral war.
But it wasnt the worlds judgment that troubled you, that dogged your dreams and your
waking memories. Even while it was happening, even while you helped in the roundup if
not the shooting, you knew that it was wrong. And even after you turned your back in
disgust and refused the order to fire into the ditch, your conscience was already nudging
you to do more . . . to make it stop.

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But you were a lowly grunt, caught in an impossible situation, and you couldnt make it
stop. In fact long after the siege was over, after youd returned to the States, after the
war finally came to its inglorious end, your internal battle went on and on. The dreams
kept coming back . . . the fears when a car out on the street backfired . . . the sudden
inexplicable rages . . . the relief you kept seeking in alcohol and drugs . . . the fractured
relationships . . . you continued to be haunted for years.
Until finally you found a measure of solace in your faith. Having tried so many other
things, you turned to Christ and accepted him as your savior. You joined a wonderful
church where you were made to feel welcome . . . even loved. You studied the bible,
went on retreats, had many deep, reflective discussions with your pastor and some of
your fellow parishioners, and slowly you atoned for your past and came to experience
redemption - the loving forgiveness your personal savior Jesus Christ brought into the
world so that you could, indeed, be saved. And you dedicated yourself to being an
apostle of peace, a soldier in a different battle, fighting for an end to war, the end of
innocent victims and other collateral damage.
How fortunate that one of your fellow worshippers gave you work in his flower shop.
Being with such natural beauty was an additional salve, a counterweight to the ugly
horrors you still carried in the deep recesses of your memory. You did so well that when
he passed, your patron left you his business, and you continued to make it grow and
prosper.
And then one day a couple came in to arrange flowers for their wedding. Having just
recently returned from Afghanistan, he was still in uniform. An engaging fellow, he drew
your own veteran status out of you, even though you politely said that you didnt like to
talk about it. But that didnt stop him from pursuing it. He began to show a different side,
talking about the glories of war, how he couldnt wait to go back . . . how he wasnt going
to be satisfied until every one of those rag-heads was pushing up poppies from six feet
under.
And you could feel the old churning in your gut start up again. So, mustering as much
civility as you could, you asked him to hold up, and you explained to him that you
werent going to do the flowers for his wedding . . . that to do business with someone
who violated every principal of belief you held dear would be a betrayal. Your religious
faith commanded Thou shalt not kill. The Lord you held above all others preached loving
your enemies, not maiming or burying their children. For you to do business with

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someone with his views would be like reenacting what you did or sanctioned in My Lai
without remorse. So . . . sorry, but no.
But this guy didnt take kindly to your rejection. He threatened to sue you, claiming you
were denying him his civil rights. What rights? The rights of a decorated veteran to get
treated equally with anyone else. The rights of every American to voice any opinion he
or she wants without fear of censorship or retribution.
But what about you? Dont you have a right under the constitution to practice your faith?
Doesnt the 1st Amendment guarantee freedom of religion? Maybe you should talk to
your political representatives . . . get their help. Get a law to protect your rights.
Okay, end of story. I imagine youve begun to guess why Ive set up this hypothetical
case study . . . because the whole issue of where religious freedom intersects with
business and with discrimination has recently grabbed a lot of attention. As you
undoubtedly know, the issue hasnt had anything to do with war and its horrors; rather,
its had to do with the relatively sudden surge of long overdue civil rights for lesbian, gay,
transvestite and bisexual people and, more specifically, about how same sex marriage
has come to the forefront of national attention (and contention).
So why not come at it directly rather than through an issue thats much less on
everyones mind? Good question. After first stating that, especially since Im not
qualified, Im not trying to address the legal issues at stake here, let me offer a couple of
different reasons.
1. Ive tried to state a case about someones desire or right not to feel his religious
conscience is compromised by doing business with someone he honestly believes is
advocating apostasy as compellingly as I can. Frankly, and I know you wont be
surprised by this, I find it impossible to muster any sympathy for the homophobic
prejudice so clearly behind the posturing a lot of people on the right are putting out in
the current spate of so called safeguarding religious liberty laws that are being
proposed or enacted these days. Whereas, if my imaginary My Lai veteran were actually
at the forefront of the national dialogue, Id be a whole lot less distracted by my
suspicions of political pandering and downright hatefulness trying to disguise itself as
religious righteousness. My heart would go out to my hypothetical veteran, who I believe
is genuinely trying to do the right thing.

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And 2. I want to underscore the oft-neglected truth that morality, especially Christian
morality, is about a whole lot more than sex. My sense is that things sexual come pretty
far down on the list of things that separate us from God. Read your Bible, especially the
New Testament. Theres actually not a whole lot about sex to be found. Hypocrisy.
Abuse of authority. Bad religion. Thats a different kettle of fish.
Where does the idea come from that sex trumps all other moral concerns? I have my
suspicions. I think it came first from clergy who found their lust for power realized in
convincing their susceptible flocks that they were the arbiters of sexual regulation. And
being no fools, civic authorities have jumped right on that bandwagon.
As an American, albeit let me say again, not a legal expert, I hate what the so called
religious liberties say and do. I hate the discrimination and cynicism and disregard of
both individual rights and the sanctity of marriage and family that so obviously underlie
where they come from and where theyre directed.
But its as a Christian that I hate them more, not just because they give us a bad name
but because they undermine the essence of our faith . . . they co-opt the truth of Christs
loving Word. Littlechildren,letuslove,notinwordorspeech,butintruthandaction,1st
John writes in this mornings epistle. Love and truth (and I might add justice) are the
watchwords of our faith, and theyre more than words. They are, as John tells us,
actions. Theres no love in these laws, no truth, no justice. They engender unloving, in
fact hateful actions. And I think our faith calls us to protest - to call out the false
promulgators of judgment and hypocrisy in the name of the risen Christ who gave his life
to do that very thing. We cede the Christian narrative to them not only at our own peril
but theirs too . . . in fact everyones.
And so let me get back to the hard truth of my fictional My Lai veteran who seeks the
laws protection in standing for peace. And let me, with compassion, with empathy and
with regret, beg him - dont do it, bro, even with truth and justice in your heart, even with
Gods forgiveness in your soul, dont hide behind your religion in this, dont let your
beliefs, as admirable as they are, channel your cause into the wrong arena. This guys
just another sinner like the rest of us, so why not sell him the flowers? Render unto
Caesar . . . . Thats no endorsement of his viewpoint . . . no compromise of yours. I
wish it were otherwise, but you open the door to a very slippery slope when you go the
way youd like to here. Why is that? Because in the fallen world we live in, one persons
sincere religious faith is another persons poison. Ethically, in my opinion you have the

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high ground, and I hope you tell your beliefs far and wide. Give that guy what for.
Defend yourself on moral grounds, not religious or political grounds. Your faith is your
own; to impose it on others is to undermine it, because it opens the door for every false
believer to do the same thing.
Friends, let me finish by telling you what I love about our little church. Were a
welcoming community. We genuinely try to love not just God and each other but those
whom Jesus refers to as not yet in his fold. We dont judge. We dont demand
agreement with our individual viewpoints. We reach out. As long as we hang on to these
principles, we can wear our mantle not only proudly but boldly. Jesus warned his
disciples that many false prophets would come along claiming they were acting in his
name. Even if it costs us a lot, its up to us to dispute their claims . . . its up to us to hold
the true Christ up to all who invoke his name while trying to bring his love down. Andby
thisweknowthatheabidesinus,bytheSpiritthathehasgivenus.
Amen.