Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Business operators’ right to choose

Business operators’ right to choose:
"Should Muslim cab drivers be entitled to refuse to carry passengers who are transporting alcohol? 
(Assume that the state has a legal rule that generally provides religious exemptions from generally applicable laws.)
I gave this as an example of a normal controversy religious exemption controversy, but a commenter disagreed:

The cabbie is voluntarily offering an accommodation to the general public, choosing to associate with them, knowing full well they are religiously diverse. 
They can’t subsequently rescind that offer of accommodation after applying a religious litmus test to the particular member of the public taking them up on their offer. 
To do that they need to limit their association to those who share their religious viewpoint; private car service with a strict [no alcohol] membership requirement or the like.
But offer the general public an accommodation, can’t then rescind the offer because the member of the public doesn’t conform to a religious belief they don’t share. 

I think this analysis is unsound, but I’ve found such arguments to be common enough that I thought I’d respond to them here."

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