Two Muslim truck drivers were fired by their employer because they wouldn’t deliver alcohol, in this case beer, because of their religious beliefs.
In the Muslim world alcohol is taboo; in the United States it isn’t.
Throughout our history, alcohol has played a pivotal role in the founding and governing of our country. The early patriots who crafted the Constitution and wrote the Bill of Rights did so in a tavern and in all likelihood their debates were fueled by the alcohol they drank as the debated the nation’s future.
Similarly, politicians of the past and some today consider that consuming alcohol and toiling at governing the masses go hand-in-hand.
But alcohol has a seamier side; families have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly and indirectly by alcohol.
According to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving website, in 2013 over 10,000 people were killed and 290,000 injured, many of them were children and innocent (sober) folks who just got in the way of impaired drivers.
It is likely that these numbers haven’t changed much.
You are constantly reading about DUI arrests. Some of those folks are recognizable personalities, some are politicians, but most are just the average Joe and Jane who think its OK to drive after drinking.
We don’t know how many folks have been killed or injured in altercations, knife fights, clubbings or shootings, but it’s safe to say that many conflicts are the direct result of drinking too much joy juice.
I am sure you are familiar with much publicized fights, fueled by alcohol, that injure and maim at sporting events.
So, back to the Muslim truck drivers — I respect their right to follow their religious principles. I don’t know how many truck drivers were employed at this company, but wouldn’t it seem reasonable to accommodate their beliefs and assign someone else to that route?
The Obama administration thought so, too. They unleashed the full power and force of government on the hapless employer and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission won a $240,000 judgment against the employer on their behalf.
You say, “so what,” isn’t this what government is supposed to do in their role as a representative of the oppressed?
I could support that position if the renewed interest of the Obama administration in religious liberties was applied evenly to all religious beliefs.
Christians don’t enjoy the same protections as the Muslim truck drivers.
In fact, the Obama folks and Democrats in toto have consistently found ways to diminish and/or eliminate Christian values in all venues. Many cases underscore the hypocrisy of the current regime and in many respects a deeply held bias spanning a couple of decades by liberals against people of the Christian faith.
Prayer has been all but eliminated from most public venues — in Lompoc, though, the City Council still opens its meeting with a prayer alternately delivered by every faith that delivers a religious message in our city.
Good for them, it’s the right thing to do.
Gay and lesbian rights seem to have grabbed the attention of the populace at the expense of many. The rights of this minority seem to have more value than the rights of the majority.
Like the Muslim truck drivers, they have garnered government support while Christian’s who are following their religious beliefs have been persecuted.
Catholic health-care providers have been required to provide abortion services and insurance that covers abortion, which is clearly against their religious principles.
Recently a county clerk was publicly humiliated and hauled off to jail because she wanted to remain true to her faith.
Bakers of pizza and pastries have been run out of business because they refused to cave in to the demands that they abandon their religious beliefs in order to satisfy Democrats’ version of political correctness.
Once again the full force and power of the government came into play not to support their rights as the EEOC did for the Muslim truck drivers, but to punish them for failing to adhere to Democrat-inspired ideas of new found social rights.
This is the ugly side of government power.
Democrats have no concern for equality; they pick and choose the winners and losers, and lately the farther left of center you are the better chance you have for being on the winning side.
We need a new set of values; one that recognizes that the government’s role is equal to all, not just a chosen few.
If truck drivers don’t have to deliver beer because they have strong religious conviction then Catholic’s don’t have to support abortions, pizza bakers and pastry bakers don’t have to cater to gay weddings, and county clerks don’t have to sign gay marriage licenses if it conflicts with their religious beliefs.
Memo to Democrats: stop being hypocritical because it is unbecoming in a society that relishes its freedom of religious beliefs no matter what they are.
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry and has been active with Lompoc municipal government commissions and committee since 1992, including 12 years on the Lompoc Planning Commission. He is also a voting member of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association. Contact him at news@noozhawk.com. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
