Hypocrisy of a “Christian Nation”

It is ridiculous and incredible that as a popularly-styled “Christian Nation” American society requires laws compelling compassion and fairness (by way of example, Colorado’s and Washington State’s laws on public accommodations). While the government should not dictate the conscientious objections of private enterprise, neither should private enterprise be allowed to hatefully mistreat a class of people. It was unconscionable when Old South segregation refused public accommodations based on race and it is equally intolerable that public accommodations be refused to people on the basis of sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationship status. Showing kindness and treating fellow humans as equals in no way endorses a view with which we disagree. Jesus said as much in the parable of the Good Samaritan and through his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. That said, there is a difference between a public accommodation and a public service, that is, a difference between hotels or restaurants and bakeries and florists. Wedding cakes and floral arrangements are discretionary luxuries, not basic necessities, and a consumer has time to shop around. As capitalists, one would think that the Invisible Hand of self-interest would govern such matters: capitalist enterprise possesses the right to assert different opportunity costs to transactions. Those who forego profit in the name of speech and religion have every right to do so. But dehumanization in the name of speech and religion is inconsistent with Christ’s teachings. It would seem that those who would tout America as a “Christian Nation” are the very ones that make Christianity undesirable.