Three in ten (30%) Americans say they think it should be permissible for a small business owner in their state to refuse to provide services to gay or lesbian people if doing so violates their religious beliefs, while two-thirds (67%) say they should not be allowed to do so.
Support for religiously based service refusals have increased across virtually every demographic group since 2014, when only 16% of Americans said small businesses should be allowed to refuse service to gay or lesbian customers because of religious beliefs, and 80% said they should not.
Opinions on this issue, however, differ by gender, age, and race. More than one-third (34%) of men, compared to 26% of women, say businesses should be allowed to refuse services to gay or lesbian people. This is an increase from 2014, when only 19% of men and 14% of women agreed that businesses should be permitted to refuse to serve gays and lesbians on the basis of their religious beliefs.
Seniors ages 65 and older (39%) are more likely than young Americans ages 18-29 (26%) to favor religiously based service refusals targeting gays and lesbians. Every age group has increased support since 2014, when only 17% of seniors and only 12% of young Americans supported allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay or lesbian people on religious grounds. One-third (33%) of white Americans, compared to nearly one-fourth (24%) of nonwhite Americans, agreed. White Americans have nearly doubled their support since 2014 (16%).
While there are no differences on this issue by educational attainment, similar increases in support for refusing service to gays and lesbians on religious grounds occurred across the board during the last two years, from those with a high school diploma or less (17% to 28%), some college (15% to 29%), and college graduates (17% to 32%).
Republicans are divided on whether small businesses should be allowed to refuse gay or lesbian people (47% favor, 48% oppose). This number has more than doubled from 2014, when only 21% of Republicans said these types of religiously based service refusals should be allowed.
If this data is basically accurate, this reflects another aspect of an increasing social sickness that afflicts America. How people see this will vary.
One question is whether the burden on religion is more than trivial. Exactly how much of an imposition on a person's religious belief is it to serve a disapproved of minority? Many or most religious people will probably assert the burden is major and intolerable. What does Christianity teach about this, if anything? Does Christian God condone this?
Another question is whether secular businesses can refuse service to religious people because it violates their moral opposition to the poisonous influence of religion on society, including intolerance of minority groups.
The glue that used to hold America together continues to weaken. If it gives way, the outcome could be very bad for America. America's enemies are no doubt very happy to see developments like this. They will use this to enhance our divisions to nudge America further into social discord. The hope is to eventually bring the US to its knees.
B&B orig: 6/26/19
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