Boston’s new intolerance comes not from Puritans but from modern day “progressives”.
Mayor Tom Menino of Boston is proud of what he describes as Boston’s policy of “inclusion”, but has spelled out very clearly what the limits on that inclusiveness are. The Boston Herald quotes Mayor Menino as issuing an open threat that he would bar Chick a fil from doing business in Boston. The Boston Herald quotes Menino as follows.
“Chick-fil-A doesn’t belong in Boston. You can’t have a business in the city of Boston that discriminates against a population. We’re an open city, we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” Menino told the Herald yesterday.
“That’s the Freedom Trail. That’s where it all started right here. And we’re not going to have a company, Chick-fil-A or whatever the hell the name is, on our Freedom Trail.” …
“If they need licenses in the city, it will be very difficult — unless they open up their policies.”
In Chicago, city officials such as Joe Moreno are threatening to use traffic issues as a smokescreen for attacking Chick fil’s right to do business.
There are laws that a business has to observe in order to do business in a city. Who a business owner chooses to support with the money he makes should be his or her own business.If Tom Menino or or any Bostonian wants to avoid businesses that oppose same sex marriage, that is a civil right that every American has. But to muzzle Christian business owners who publicly proclaim their beliefs is a return to the religious intolerance that prevailed back in the days of the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
According to comments on Free Thought Blogs, Menino is already backing off from his threats, but that raises a separate issue. If picketers attempt to disrupt Chick fil’s business wint menacing demonstrations, it will be the duty of the police to enforce the right of Chick a fil A, or any other business to stay open for business.
