Day By Day© by Chris Muir.

June 13, 2007

Cabbies Must Serve Everyone

UPDATE: LGF effectively picks apart the whitewashed Reuters article itself.

You know, this business about Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis getting into a snit because they're being told they cannot discriminate against passengers who are carrying alcohol really burns my toast. Here's why.

Here in America, if you choose a profession where you are obliged to serve the general public, you don't get to pick and choose who you serve and who you don't serve. According to the article linked above, the former commissioner of Minnesota's Department of Human Rights is in the corner with the Muslim cab drivers.

"Five or six times a month, somebody will get the second or third cab, rather than the first cab," [Stephen] Cooper said. "That seems pretty minor."

Sure it's a minor incovenience. But there are pharmacists who are getting fired because they refuse to dispense the "morning after" pill in accordance with their religious beliefs. Just as an alcohol-carrying passenger can catch another cab, surely a woman can go to a different pharmacy.

And can you imagine the uproar if an emergency room doctor refused to treat someone based on religious beliefs?

See what I mean? We can't have it both ways. In America, there are some people who claim that religous beliefs have no place in public life whatsoever. I don't necessarily believe that's true. But if we make concessions for one religion because it's the cause du jour, then we need to start making concessions for other religions. And see where opening that can of worms will get you.