Reconciling "Rights"

As a lawyer (now recovering lawyer) I have marveled at the way an unwritten "right" can over time trump actual Constitutional rights contained in the Bill of Rights if people shout loud and long enough. The First Amendment clearly and unambiguously protects the freedom of religion but a number of interest groups have all argued that their pet "right" supersedes what the Constitution says. Abortion is an evergreen in this area but more recently it has been gay marriage. 

I have never been much impressed with the equal protection argument used to advance this agenda. A gay person has exactly the same legal rights under traditional state marriage laws that I do - they can marry someone of the opposite sex. This was clearly a problem so proponents changed the question to: Shouldn't I be free to marry anyone I want? The difficulty with this framing of the issue is, of course, that if you think about it the answer is "no." What if the person you want to marry is your sister, your mother, your father, well - you get the idea. But keeping shouting loud enough and long enough and voila - it's a "right" and only chumps think otherwise. Since the Supremes have already semi-ratified this new formulation we can look forward to a series of cases raising such issues and the Big Guys in Black Robes ("guys" being a generic and non-sexist usage of course) can either throw up their hands and open the gates to all sorts of esoteric combinations or become arbitrary with their guidance coming primarily from their subjective "Yuck!" factor. 

The reaction from many in the religious community to the the neo-Nazi Thought Police pushing the wedding cases attacking bakers, florists, wedding planners, etc. has been fierce. Matt Barber's article in Townhall says it pretty succinctly in the title of his recent article, "Bake Your Own Damn Cake!" 

townhall.com/columnists/mattbarber/2015/04/13/bake-your-own-damn-cake-n1983879

While I can sympathize with his angst, I don't think it is probably an effective response, and am much more intrigued with the suggestion of a Catholic priest from Wisconsin, Father John Zuhlsdorf. 

The good Father suggests that Christians should give a hearty "yes" to gay marriage requests made to Christian providers and then they should cheerily lay out their approach which includes:

Informing "... them that all of the money that they pay for the services will be donated to a traditional pro-family lobby. If it is something like catering, where your employees have to be there to provide services, tell them that all your people will smile, be professional, and every one of them will be wearing crucifixes and have the Holy Family embroidered on their uniforms. Then show them pictures of your uniforms. When the truck pulls up, speakers will be playing 'Immaculate Mary.' Show them the truck and play the music."

As they say on TV, but wait - that's not all! The piece de resistance includes at no additional cost:

Taking " ... out an ad in the paper to let everyone know what you did with their money, thanking them by name for their business so that you could make the contribution."

townhall.com/columnists/brentbozell/2015/04/17/a-way-out-for-christian-wedding-businesses-n1986452

I like it. It's speaking the truth in love. It's good-natured. It's gutsy. The provider's First Amendment right to freedom of religion is preserved and nobody is "discriminated" against. Not bad, Father Z. Keep up the good work!