George,

In a discussion of the issue of "refusal of service" by pharmacists who believe that birth control pills, or Plan B, or whatever, violate their deeply held religious beliefs the following comparison was made: if you were one of two blacksmiths in town, back when slavery was legal, would you be expected to restore an escaped slave to irons if you believed that slavery was a sin?

I suppose pharmacies could have a religious test (oops) to ensure that no one was refused service. Perhaps a sign on the door?? Perhaps a chain of biblically correct pharmacies (RSV) might be the answer. Like it or not, religion is in the public square. We have to find ways to accommodate differing views.

Al Weed (Electronic mail, May 28, 2007)

Note: An article from the Washington Post , Free Speech? Not if You Hurt Their Feelings reports on a recent incident and the response to it, at the University of Maryland. The comments of David RePass on the subject are at http://george.loper.org/~george/trends/2007/May/899.html