As a rebuttal to this idea, I present to you the wisdom of Rudyard Kipling.
IT is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:—
“We invaded you last night—we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:—“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”
Thanks for the rebuttal. I understand Kipling’s message not to gather tribute and pay a tax to the outside invaders hoping they will go away and leave us alone. It is a good idea with which I agree. But I believe this an issue between the state and our Constitutional right to express our religious beliefs. Therefore consider the following choices:
From a Christian perspective, it would be applicable for the bakery owners not to “give tribute” to the sinners and to resist the state if they feel they are being forced to commit a sin. They must follow their religious beliefs above all.
But from a business perspective, the bakery owners should have been prepared to render unto Caesar. But now the question has evolved. Do they still have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason including religious beliefs. Or, can Caesar force them to indiscriminately sell to everybody without exception? It’s a devil of a question our judges must decide.
My idea was only meant to help the bakery owners render unto Caesar by passing the buck from one sinner to another. I agree it was not the best idea but I’ll try to outsmart the devil whenever the opportunity arises.
BTW, do you know if Kipling was a Christian or a Muslim? :)