TO THE EDITOR:
This is in regard to two opinion columns in the Friday, April 3, issue of the Standard. One is the Steve and Cokie Roberts column that appeared under the heading “It’s still hate and bigotry” and the other is by James Clark entitled “When business is not wanted.”
The main issue which instigated the two columns appears to be the statement by the co-owner of a pizza shop in Indiana that the shop would not cater the wedding of a same-sex couple. The reason was apparently that to do so would violate her Christian beliefs. Someone might just as well have said that it would violate their Jewish or Muslim beliefs since both the Old Testament and Koran teach homosexuality is a sin. This is not to say that all who lay claim to being a member of one of these three religions would do as this lady did, but it is to say the writings on which these three religions are based do condemn homosexuality.
In opposing the store co-owner’s stand, the Roberts column cites changing attitudes in society and the influence of gays in the business world, as if those two concerns should cause someone to change their beliefs. If societal attitudes and financial concerns would cause someone to reject their principles, then perhaps those principals weren’t very firmly held in the first place.
In regard to James Clark’s opinion that other sins do not provoke the same response, I see an important point that needs to be made: There is a huge difference between merely having ordinary business dealings with someone who sins (and we all sin), and participating in a sin with them.
If a boy plays hooky from school, he violates the rules. If his mother writes a note to the teacher claiming the child was sick, then they are both guilty. So she should, in love, refuse to support him in his misdeed. So here’s this pizza store owner having to choose between standing up for her faith, or giving in to the threats she has received. One threat even involved having her store burned (by some loving individual?). She is asking that she not be forced to participate in something her professed religion condemns.
Anyone who doesn’t see that religious freedom in this country is being seriously eroded either doesn’t care, or is just not paying attention. Religious people who stand up for their beliefs are ridiculed and there are attempts to force them to participate in what they believe to be wrong. Who are the real haters here?
My contention is we all must love each other. As a Christian, I must love everyone, including homosexuals, even though I don’t approve their practices, and I don’t believe I should be forced to violate my beliefs.
 Joe Collins
Creek Lane
McMinnville