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This Isn’t Houston… It’s New Mexico
Marry Christmas! Whew, that was a close call! I hope no one perceived that ass a violation of their civil rights? I say this, “tongue in cheek”, because someday it may be forbidden. Tragically, there is an onslaught by anti-Christian entities seeking to deny our Constitutional rights by declaring that we are violating theirs.
Last month I wrote on an issue regarding the political and legal attacks against pastors in Houston and the very aggressive manner in which local government sought to persecute five pastors by trampling on their Constitutional rights. Thankfully, this situation was resolved but not solved. Today, I would like to draw your attention to a court verdict that effects every New Mexico Christian business owner’s rights and beliefs:
“The New Mexico Supreme Court rules Thursday that a photographer’s refusal to service a gay wedding on religious grounds violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act ( NMHRA), a state law that “prohibits a public accommodation from refusing to offer its services to a person based on that person’s sexual orientation.”
Photographers Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin “are free to think, to say, to believe, as they wish”, Justice Richard C. Bosson noted in this concurring opinion. But despite potential personal objections to gay marriage, the owners of Elaine Photography “must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others.” This, Bosson says, is “the price of citizenship.”
In the “world of the marketplace, of commerce, of public accommodation, the Huguenin’s have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different”, he writes. “A multicultural, pluralistic society, one of our nation’s strengths, demands no less.”
The state court’s ruling upheld a lower court’s decision that the company’s refusal to photograph a lesbian wedding was an act of unlawful discrimination. The photographers in this case were represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. “This decision is a blow to our client and every American’s right to live free,” the group’s senior counsel said.” (article titled: ‘The price of citizenship’: State court says gay rights trump religious beliefs‘ – Quoted from the Blaze.com; dated: Aug. 23, 2013 10:25 am written by Meredith Jessup).
“When people say things like gay rights trump religious rights, what th eya re saying is the government can force people to believe a certain way – and that is something that in a free society should be tolerated,” (Article: ‘Do gay rights trump religious rights? Supreme Court won’t hear wedding photographers’ case;’ Todd Starnes Published April 07, 2014 foxnews.com). And that is a coercive attitude which our government should not hold toward its citizenry.
If a Christian citizen must suspend their beliefs in order to exist in a pluralistic culture; then does that mean that a Hassidic Jew who owns a Kosher Deli, would be required to provide a BLT or Ham and Swiss on Rye if a homosexual patron insists on them providing a sandwich that consists of pork products which are forbidden, by their religious beliefs, to touch. The judge’s decision says that a person’s (of a particular sexual orientation) civil rights supersede another person’s beliefs.
Sadly, our Constitutional freedoms concerning religious belief and speech are being targeted, attacked and whittled away little by little.
We as believers must stand for what we believe. Exercise our rights and confront those who would deny us our rights and beliefs. Firmly acknowledge scriptural truth and lovingly apply it. We can start right now – this season greet others with, “Have a Merry Christmas.” Genuinely extend glad tidings of great joy to others, generously wish everyone good will. Why? Because regardlesss of what others think or say we are to be about the business of proclaiming Christ especially at Christmas. With that said, I want to wish each of you a glorious and Merry Christmas this year. Your pastor, Dave Rowser.
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Prayer Request
Charles Goodson, Louise Harrod, Betty South, Jennifer & Gary Chapman, Joshua Gandy, Sandy & Ernie Robinson, Bobbye Allen, The Gandy Family, & Pat Carr.
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Our Missionaries
Paul & Holly Miller, Christian College Ministry Denver, CO
Cookie Ministry
Sandy Robinson & Dutch Scott, and our Fire Department
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