Muslim Cabbies and Christian Pharmacists

By now just about everyone in the known world has heard about the late-2006 fracas at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. A bunch of Muslim cab drivers (Somali immigrants, mostly, comprising about 75% of the airport's cab fleet) have been refusing to serve travelers carrying alcohol. There have even been a few incidents of blind people with seeing-eye dogs being refused service on grounds of a Qu'ranic prohibition against dogs and their unclean saliva. As I read it, the airports authority first accommodated these cabbies' preferences by considering a booze-or-no-booze cab-painting scheme, but regrouped after the predictable public outrage.

The dust has more or less settled, and the airport authority is now thinking about punishing these proponents of Shariah law by sending them to the back of the queue the first time they refuse service, and banning them from the airport altogether if they do it again. As an American and a Christian, I have held that this solution or one like it should have happened the very first time such a denial of service was reported. This is America; we are not an Islamic land, thank you very much, and Shariah norms have no place here. If you don't want infidels in your cab, you are free in this land of opportunity and religious pluralism to find some other line of work.

With me so far? Yep, I was afraid of that. Now think back to earlier in 2006 when some Christian pharmacists in Illinois were running into legal trouble for refusing, on grounds of conscience, to dispense the "morning after contraceptive" RU-486. A clear case of the religious scruples of a minority being forceably conformed to the preferences of others, right? And besides, it's not like the same abortifacent can't be had from some other pharmacist, right?

Well, I made the mistake of reading a column over at Little Green Footballs (a few days ago! Now I can't find the post and link! sorry) that connects the two and has me squirming. He argues that both the Muslim cabbies and the Christian pharmacists are in effect demanding that their employers and their customers go to unreasonable lengths to accommodate their religious scruples and are therefore egregiously wrong. I hate his conclusion, but cannot refute his logic. Drinking alcohol, using a seeing-eye dog, and having an abortion are all legal behaviors in this country. A citizen may not approve of one or two or all three, but he is not allowed to prevent others from engaging in them. He can work for change by how he votes, by running for office, by lobbying, by protesting, by boycotting, by persuading, and by praying, but he's not allowed to place himself in the way of others who wish to practice them.

Food for thought. Is there a principle I'm missing, one that invalidates the columnist's connection?

Wow!?! Um, WTH? Wow!

I have not yet breathed a word in this blog about my former membership in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG).

It's a long and complex story that I may write about sometime. Or at least I may take on small chunks of it. Today, though, I thought I would share a link to this oddity of a website, and particularly this alarming page. But before you follow either link, a small word of explanation:

Plain Truth Ministries (PTM) is the nondenominational and independent media ministry that used to be the publishing arm of WCG. PTM apparently owns the rights to the name Plain Truth (WCG's infamous publication of years gone by) and today offers both discipleship materials and a radio show hosted by former WCG bigwig Greg Albrecht. I'm not sure what Greg's current relationship with WCG is (he used to be an ordained WCG pastor) and his current bio is a bit vague.

Whether he still has a relationship with WCG is not my thing today, though. I'm morbidly fascinated with the page above, which purports to be "Pastor" Greg's online church. He's got sermons, worship music, some sort of mechanism for pastoral prayers, and ... wait for it ... online Communion! Yes, a simple click on the pretty picture of the (leavened!) loaf and chalice brings you to a page of instructions on how to eat-drink-for-this-is-Christ's-body from the privacy of your own laptop. Strikingly absent is any mention of unworthy receiving (I Corinthians 11:27-32) or any need for accountability among those who call themselves Christians. Your old church keep you away from the Table for unrepentant sin? Have no fear, Christianity without Religion is here!

Now, I do have some sympathy for PTM's focus because, to be sure, legalism is a constant snare throughout the Church. There have always been those would confuse Scripture's requirements with their own scruples, and the Bride of Christ will remain in this impure condition until the Return. Yet the ditch on the other side of the road is just as dangerous. The idea of an e-Church, an anonymous portal where the believer can receive Word and Sacrament without rubbing shoulders with other saved sinners, is appalling.

How is individualism an improvement over legalism?