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I think in general, businesses should be free to decide with whom they do business, which many posters in this and the flag-killed earlier thread already stated. Being a heterosexual white male doing business this right comes to my mind first, because the right not to be discriminated mostly benefits me only secondarily. Nevertheless you have to acknowledge when other people's rights trump yours. I think it is undebatable that this should be the case here, even if you are concerned with religious beliefs, which I am not. I also think, that religion should get no special treatment by law. In Germany we have § 166 StGB, which is highly in conflict with freedom of expression, because it says, that you can be put in prison for up to 3 years if you hurt somebody's religious feelings publicly. Courts mostly ignore the law anyway by valuing freedom of press/art/etc. above it. On the other hand if you join any big German party, you have to confirm, that you are not a member of Scientology (what I totally support), arguing, that it is not a religion, but a sect trying to get traction here. So religious laws do not apply for everything you call your religion anyway, making them senseless in a way, because the small ones do need protection more than the big ones, but are effectively less protected. I can rarely think of a religious rights law, that is not covered by a civil liberty law or should not exists anyway. If I could mix the perfect religious legislation i would choose the French approach, Laïcité [0], and add the German right for children to get religious education in school to prevent extremism by giving up the interpretation to other groups. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La%C3%AFcit%C3%A9 |