Media Critic Nails What NY Mag's Hit Piece on John Fetterman Is Really...
Bill Maher Again Sets the Woke Aflame in Latest Commentary
Why the Husband of a Top CBS News Correspondent Just Had His Business...
The Latest Update on the Antisemitic Incident at Barstool Sports' Philly Bar Isn't...
Ex-Breitbart Editor's Thread on the Canada-Trump Meeting Was Hilarious
Good Riddance to the Boomers
Useless Government
Joe Biden's Decline: The Inside Story and the Outside Story
Venezuelan Opposition Leaders Safely in US After 'Precise Operation'
Buttigieg Has a Warning for Democrats
The Purely Progressive Pulitzer Prize Parade
National Suicide – a Rejection or Just a Reprieve for America?
President Trump Needs to Protect American Access to Venezuelan Oil
SCOTUS Victory for Trump as Lawfare Worsens
The Most Important Provision of Trump’s Sanctuary Executive Order
OPINION

Has Christianity Become Intolerable?

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
There has been a demonstrable move away from Judeo-Christian faith and practice in Europe for a number of years. Just ask British hoteliers Peter and Hazelmary Bull.
Advertisement

What was once respected as authoritative is now considered Victorian, and what was widely embraced as a moral guide has been dismissed with the morals in which it guided people…all in the name of tolerance, mind you.

And so the Bulls have experienced the irony of ironies that Christianity is being forced out of the room by those who claim tolerance as their guiding principle.

They used to be poked fun at for their guest policy, “No double rooms for unmarried couples,” but they rolled with it. In fact, Mrs. Bull would simply deflect the criticism by saying, “You have to have some principles.”

But those days were fleeting. Now, instead of jokes, criticism, or negative headlines, the Bulls face lawsuits over their policy.

As the effects of Christianity have steadily eroded, the tentacles of secularization (its proponents would call it an “enlightened” secularization) has taken hold. It is marked by egalitarianism and utopian fantasies, but especially tolerance.

Tolerance for everything, except that which is intolerable, of course.

And at this particular turn in the road, a hotel policy that won’t allow two unmarried people to share a bed is at the apex of what will not be tolerated.

In fact, a British appeals court just upheld a £3,600 ($5,800) fine against the Bulls over their policy. This stems from a 2008 complaint against them, filed when they refused to rent Martyn Hall and Steven Preddy a double room because they are not married.

Hall and Preddy countered that they are in a civil union and that the refusal to rent them a room violates the U.K.’s 2007 Equality Act.
Advertisement

That act, like so many acts similarly impacting freedom of religion and conscience, “exempts some religious institutions from some nondiscrimination laws, but commercial guesthouses” aren’t among those receiving exemptions.

It’s the same act that allowed practicing Sikhs to carry their ceremonial swords on passenger airplanes but made no room for British Airways’ employee Nadia Eweida to wear a cross.

And this is when the intolerance of Christianity comes into full view. The same British government that said a secularly-owned business has no obligation to allow a Christian to wear her cross has now gone the extra step—in the Bulls’ case—to claim that no one forces Christians to start a business and, therefore, they can’t object when the government wants to force them to violate their consciences.

In other words, if you’re a secularist, you and the law are going to get along just fine. But if you are a Christian, you start a business at your own peril.

It’s kind of like saying, “heads I win, tails you lose.”

That’s the new face of “tolerance” that has replaced “Victorian,” biblical ideals like freedom of expression and religion.

To anyone who’s really thinking, the Judeo-Christian principles that truly respect dissenters with a conscience are welcome ideals indeed.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement