We are transforming into a pizza theocracy ? the religious state that our founding fathers worked so hard to escape. Well?except for the pizza part. After Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a family-owned pizza place in Walkerton, Ind., became the first to take it to heart and put it into action.
After all, if Hobby Lobby can refuse to offer insurance for procedures that do not agree with their religious beliefs, why can’t Memories Pizza owners exercise their religious beliefs?
The O?Connor family has owned their small-town pizza joint for nine years. Crystal O?Connor?says,
?If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no?we are a Christian establishment?We’re not discriminating against anyone, that’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything.?
?We definitely agree with the bill.?
ABC 57 questioned O’Connor about the heat the media and big businesses are placing on Gov. Pence for his new discriminatory bill. She disagrees.
?I do not think it’s targeting gays. I don’t think it’s discrimination. It’s supposed to help people that have a religious belief.?
?Kevin O?Connor, Crystal’s father, thinks Gov. Pence is getting a bad rap,
?That lifestyle is something they choose. I choose to be heterosexual. They choose to be homosexual. Why should I be beat over the head to go along with something they choose???
The O?Connor family says that its restaurant would serve a gay couple or a couple of another religion. But they declare, as Christians, they do not support gay marriage and believe it is within their rights to refuse to cater a gay marriage.
Our founding fathers experienced state-mandated religions ? Protestant or Catholic depending upon when and where a person lived. They knew that a state religion could evolve into bloody, merciless, and relentless persecution. That is why they came to this country ? to escape it.
According to the Library Of Congress:
?The religious persecution that drove settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction? that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society.
?This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens.
?Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics. The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as ?inforced uniformity of religion,? meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst.
The Smithsonian Magazine talks about George Washington?and his respect for all religions,
?America historically has been a place of religious tolerance. It was a sentiment George Washington voiced shortly after taking the oath of office just a few blocks from Ground Zero.?
The O?Connor pizza shop denying same-sex marriage catering may seem like a small thing. But taken across an entire state or many states or a nation, religious descrimination has the potential of turning into religious persecution.
Watch the pizza owner talk about denying same-sex couples service:
