“They would have disarmed the entire episode had they simply agreed to the gig and charged a premium for it.”
Wow - I sure struck a nerve with you, Edmund! Having a bad day are we? Relax and take a deep breath...
I never said your god was money. I simply said their God was God, and not money. Also, to ‘disarm the entire episode’ by accepting the job would still have violated their faith and offended God, irrespective of what the customers were willing to pay.
But you have to admit, the fact that you think that violating their core beliefs would be justified as long as the price was right demonstrates that your standards are indeed different that those people.
Standards that honor God are higher than standards that do not honor God. I’m sorry if that offends you.
Take two asprin and get back to me in the morning.
Wait a doggoned minute. First, you did make assumptions about my standards - go back and read your first reply.
Read it again if you missed it.
Secondly - standards? These are not the clergy. These are not the counselors. There is no assumed "standard" for the contracted out vendors and I refuse to concede that there are. It is foolish to assume they condone every marriage they've photographed nor should they be required to "bless" every marriage. They are taking pictures for crying out loud. They've probably performed this service for a lot of condemned to failure marriages - chances are 50% of them - and for sins on the part of one or both. That's why they are on a slippery slope high horse here. But again, I totally agree this is their right to decide - and the ruling that they are a public accommodation is a farce.
But folks chill - this is the photographer. It's no different than the florist or the cleaning crew or the caterer. Besides, if they were known as a "Christian" business, as the press indicates they were - then they were obviously set up and they obviously stepped right in it. That's not wise, period. That is my only point. They were fooled - when they could have had the last laugh but did not.