A landlord evicts a interracial couple because his church is against the mixing of races. The laws say no. The believer says that god’s law is over man’s law. The law says no. The religious cry religious oppression.

When the religious cry “religious oppression” in the face of the law, mandated by our secular government, what they are really crying about is that they are being denied the ability to tell people what to believe and what to do.

Instead, they could have done better. They might have tolerated.

→ The religious business person cannot deny someone business on religious grounds. So I suggest they render business. You do not have to accept them as friends… outside of the business you do not have to acknowledge they exist. Just tolerate… allow them to live their lives, allow them to exist… hold no grudge against them, just ignore them outside of business. Toleration does not mean acceptance. The law has mandated that you serve them as you would anyone else. It has not mandated that you be their friends, that you accept them.

There are many groups of people who make my skin crawl, my gut turn, yet… I am not out and about hunting them down. I pass them in the street. I go about my business. When I served in the public realm I served them like everyone else. I went home, they went home. Outside of the business where I worked there was no interaction between us.

If your church has a bigoted slant, or you were raised from a little squirt by a racist or bigot, though it would nice if you could change… if you can’t you can still get along… obey the law… live. Tolerate. Toleration does not mean acceptance.