Religiously Based Service Refusal

[Occams Barber]

SOURCE: Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals | PRRI

Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals

In April 2019 the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) conducted a random, representative phone survey of 1,100 American adults to assess support for religiously based service refusal directed at a number of minority groups.

The survey, conducted by professional interviewers, was based on responses to this statement:

“A small business owner in <your state> should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to < group> , if doing so violated their religious beliefs”​

The groups were:

• Gay/Lesbian
• Transgender
• Atheists
• Muslims
• Jews
• African American

Where data was available, the results were compared to a similar survey conducted in 2014.

This bar chart summarises the overall results. Note that acceptance of service refusal has significantly increased since 2014:

This chart (below) shows support for refusal by religious affiliation. Across the board, white Evangelical Protestants or white Mainline Protestants were most likely to agree with refusal of service.

In 4 out of 6 groups, Republican support for refusal of service was more than double that of Democrats (see chart below):

SOURCE: Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals | PRRI

OB

 

[thecolorsblend]

Do you have a point of view on this which you'd like to share?

 

[JackRT]

SOURCE: Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals | PRRI

Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals

In April 2019 the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) conducted a random, representative phone survey of 1,100 American adults to assess support for religiously based service refusal directed at a number of minority groups.

The survey, conducted by professional interviewers, was based on responses to this statement:

“A small business owner in <your state> should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to < group> , if doing so violated their religious beliefs”​

The groups were:

• Gay/Lesbian
• Transgender
• Atheists
• Muslims
• Jews
• African American

Where data was available, the results were compared to a similar survey conducted in 2014.

This bar chart summarises the overall results. Note that acceptance of service refusal has significantly increased since 2014:
View attachment 270098


This chart (below) shows support for refusal by religious affiliation. Across the board, white Evangelical Protestants or white Mainline Protestants were most likely to agree with refusal of service.
View attachment 270099


In 4 out of 6 groups, Republican support for refusal of service was more than double that of Democrats (see chart below):
View attachment 270100
SOURCE: Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals | PRRI

OB

I find those stats to be extremely depressing. I knew there would be a difference between the Republicans and the Democrats but the size of the gap surprised me.

 

[Tinker Grey]

The African American one is really depressing. I knew we as a society have some ways to go, but I might have hoped that stat would be < 10%.

 

[Occams Barber]

Do you have a point of view on this which you'd like to share?

It basically left me speechless.

I will make one small observation. If I were a gay, African American atheist living near a white Evangelical community, I would be very, very worried.
OB

 

[ml5363]

It basically left me speechless.

I will make one small observation. If I were a gay, African American atheist living near a white Evangelical community, I would be very, very worried.
OB

Why? Though we still have much work to do in this area like a previous poster stated, it's not like most evangelicals, white mainstream are out knocking doors, collecting folks up, and torturing or killing... ( Unfortunately there are a few still extremes out there) just because one votes to refuse service to someone doesn't mean that person should fear for their life

 

[Basil the Great]

If these figures are correct, then it would appear that narrow mindedness is on the rise in recent years.

 

[Occams Barber]

Why? Though we still have much work to do in this area like a previous poster stated, it's not like most evangelicals, white mainstream are out knocking doors, collecting folks up, and torturing or killing... ( Unfortunately there are a few still extremes out there) just because one votes to refuse service to someone doesn't mean that person should fear for their life

You obviously don't belong to any of the groups mentioned in the survey.
OB

 

[dzheremi]

It basically left me speechless.

I will make one small observation. If I were a gay, African American atheist living near a white Evangelical community, I would be very, very worried.
OB

That's probably why you don't see so many who are out and proud or whatever in the Bible Belt.

I don't find these statistics all that surprising, but I agree they are depressing. The area of my city that I live in at the moment has a large community of Middle Eastern and Central Asian people (lots of Afghans, Persians, and Arabs), so it's really not strange to see them at the grocery store, the post office, wherever (I saw half a dozen women and girls in hijabs while I was out doing my errands earlier today, plus a guy with sorta obnoxious Muslim 'iconography' in the form of a gigantic decal on the back of his car, and I didn't go to any Middle Eastern specialty stores or anything), and I can't imagine them not being served in any place. That would be a major problem, and I doubt most people would put up with it (then again, I do live in California, which is hardly a white Evangelical paradise or whatever; my city is in fact minority white). Many are families with young children and such, in contradiction to the story elsewhere which involves (as I understand it) mainly young men who are unattached to anyone else.

Anyway, I would guess that such views vary widely depending on the geographical locations from which they are sampled. I often wonder what they would look like if the south were specifically excluded. (Not that there aren't people who hold those views in the north and east, because there are, but in America the stereotype is that such views are more socially acceptable, and perhaps hence more common, in the south than in most other places.)

 

[Hank77]

Neither of these questions is relative to my view. The question that I could answer would be,

Should a business have to sell products or services to anyone if the product or service is against their religious beliefs?

No, they shouldn't.

 

[ml5363]

You obviously don't belong to any of the groups mentioned in the survey.
OB

I do not but you missed my point...this is a survey about refusing service to a group of folks in minority....why does being refuse service make you or any of the other groups mentioned in survey afraid?

 

[variant]

I do not but you missed my point...this is a survey about refusing service to a group of folks in minority....why does being refuse service make you or any of the other groups mentioned in survey afraid?

Because it shows that a significant portion of religious folks hate us enough that they wouldn't do the common courtesy of doing business with us.

In this case it shows the portion of the population that prioritize their religious right to segregate out some minority out of their business over say other peoples desire that they can be black and try to exist in a society.

 

[Occams Barber]

I do not but you missed my point...this is a survey about refusing service to a group of folks in minority....why does being refuse service make you or any of the other groups mentioned in survey afraid?

Imagine you live in a neighbourhood where a proportion of the sales/service outlets refused to deal with you because you're a white Christian woman. Imagine you're aware that a significant proportion of the people in your neighbourhood agree that you should be refused service. Imagine this in a historic context where white Christian women have been tortured or killed or "collected up".

It doesn't require direct threats of torture or killing to create anxiety. These results could be used as a placeholder for prejudice and that's where the fear lies.

OB

 

[AvisG]

If I may offer my $0.02 worth after almost 40 years as a lawyer (which means I'll have to charge you $1,427.00 for my $0.02 worth), where I think the law will eventually come down on these sticky issues is this:

When you choose to go into a commercial business serving the public, you will serve the public - period. You forfeited all of your supposed religious and moral scruples when you went into business serving the public - period. If you offer custom-made wedding cakes, you will make them for anyone and everyone who wants one - period. If someone wants an obscene wedding cake, there are already laws that will protect you from having to make one.

If you don't like this bright-line rule, either don't go into business or don't offer custom-made wedding cakes - period.

This is the only sort of solution that is going to achieve what legislation is primarily intended to achieve - i.e., the orderly functioning of society. The solution that most evangelicals think they want would produce nothing but chaos, divisiveness and endless litigation.

 

[Occams Barber]

Anyway, I would guess that such views vary widely depending on the geographical locations from which they are sampled. I often wonder what they would look like if the south were specifically excluded. (Not that there aren't people who hold those views in the north and east, because there are, but in America the stereotype is that such views are more socially acceptable, and perhaps hence more common, in the south than in most other places.)

This extract from the Survey Methodology (at the bottom of the article) suggests the survey was representative of all 50 states:

The sample is designed to represent the total U.S. adult population and includes respondents from all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. The landline and cell phone samples are provided by Marketing Systems Group.
​

OB

 

[dzheremi]

Because it shows that a significant portion of religious folks hate us enough that they wouldn't do the common courtesy of doing business with us.

In this case it shows the portion of the population that prioritize their religious right to segregate out some minority out of their business over say other peoples desire that they can be black and try to exist in a society.

This is an interesting point, and one that I have seen flipped by certain people and organizations in support of the conservatives themselves with regard to, say, certain companies refusing the business of _____ (insert conservative provocateur or organization here; I don't know enough individual personalities or groups, since these are not the circles I travel in). Here is a story from CBN (hardly an unbiased source, but given the nature of the story it's perhaps understandable why you might find this sort of thing covered more often in Evangelical and conservative news than in mainstream news) concerning MasterCard and Visa (two of the largest credit card companies in the USA) refusing to process payments meant for David Horowitz's Freedom Center, after the Freedom Center was linked to extremism by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

I don't know or care to know anything about the Freedom Center, but I do know that the SPLC -- while it places itself as the #1 go-to source on right wing extremism in the United States (and is often treated as such by media outlets, financial corporations, etc.) -- does not have a perfect record with regard to who it labels as a hate group. The SPLC labeled Muslim reform activist (as in, practicing Muslim who advocates for reform of the religion) and critic Maajid Nawaz an "anti-Muslim extremist" in its 2016 field guide of hate groups and individuals, and as a result ended up having to settle with him to the tune of $3.4 million (and an apology, sort of) once it was successfully proven that they didn't know what they were talking about when they put him in there, and he shouldn't have been included in the first place (which they stop short of actually saying in their 'apology', of course).

So not only do I wonder about the Pandora's Box that is opened by religious exemption in the first place, I also wonder why the people who argue as you have don't see how easily their own argument of "these people are just trying to exist while _____, but these people hate them so much that they aren't allowed!" is also applied by 'the other side' to themselves -- and very unfortunately, at least sometimes with reason, as nobody in their right mind would compare a baker in Colorado or a florist in Indiana or whatever small business owner to MasterCard, Visa, Paypal, and the other giant multinational corporations who seem to have bought off on "well, this left-wing organization says that X is hate, so we have to make it so they cannot function in the modern world, because that's the just thing to do."

To paraphrase the point as it was made in a recent book on the 'dementing' issues our age (The Madness of Crowds by British conservative social critic Douglas Murray), eventually there comes a time when majorities no longer see the point of not using the same tactics that have worked so well for minorities.

So I think there are many reasons to be concerned about polls like this and what they may mean, beyond the standard leftist/rightist narrative of "these other people hate us so much, they won't even ____" (do business with us, let us conduct our business as we see fit, let our supporters engage in business with us, etc).

 

[dzheremi]

This extract from the Survey Methodology (at the bottom of the article) suggests the survey was representative of all 50 states:

The sample is designed to represent the total U.S. adult population and includes respondents from all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. The landline and cell phone samples are provided by Marketing Systems Group.
​

OB

Sorry, that was sloppy wording on my part. I meant that the concentration of such views is probably geographically observable (i.e., people who hold those views probably cluster in a few main areas), or may very well prove to be so if it is collected and presented that way, hence the comment on what this would look like if the stereotypically conservative southern states were left out.

 

[paul1149]

“A small business owner in <your state> should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to < group> , if doing so violated their religious beliefs”

Note that this question is markedly different from the question of whether a small business owner actually should deny services based on religious beliefs. IOW, people in this survey are saying they don't want government forcing their behavior one way or the other; they would like to make up their own minds based on their own religiously-informed consciences. They are not saying they would, or others should, deny services.

One can argue that more harm has been done to our societal comity and political cohesion by the government, usually as a result of Progressive "lawfare" in the courts, forcing business owners to serve the public in ways that violate the owners' consciences, and indeed ruining some of them financially for standing firm on principle, than by what would have been a relatively few denials of service by a small group. IOW, "Bake this cake or we'll destroy you" may be worse than, "Sorry, we can't bake that cake, but there's a shop two streets over that would be glad to serve you."

One can further argue that it is best to let social change proceed at its own natural pace and to let the balance of civil rights, the dictates of conscience, and marketplace dynamics seek and find its own level.

 

[thecolorsblend]

It basically left me speechless.

I will make one small observation. If I were a gay, African American atheist living near a white Evangelical community, I would be very, very worried.
OB

People get refused service all the time and for all types of reasons. Aside from disturbing the peace, is refusal of service ever justified, in your opinion?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

SOURCE: Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals | PRRI

Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals

In April 2019 the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) conducted a random, representative phone survey of 1,100 American adults to assess support for religiously based service refusal directed at a number of minority groups.

The survey, conducted by professional interviewers, was based on responses to this statement:

“A small business owner in <your state> should be allowed to refuse to provide products or services to < group> , if doing so violated their religious beliefs”​

The groups were:

• Gay/Lesbian
• Transgender
• Atheists
• Muslims
• Jews
• African American

Where data was available, the results were compared to a similar survey conducted in 2014.

This bar chart summarises the overall results. Note that acceptance of service refusal has significantly increased since 2014:
View attachment 270098


This chart (below) shows support for refusal by religious affiliation. Across the board, white Evangelical Protestants or white Mainline Protestants were most likely to agree with refusal of service.
View attachment 270099


In 4 out of 6 groups, Republican support for refusal of service was more than double that of Democrats (see chart below):
View attachment 270100
SOURCE: Increasing Support for Religiously Based Service Refusals | PRRI

OB

All I know Jesus Christ of Nazareth refused no one.
Blessings