{"id":127951,"date":"2015-09-11T17:57:49","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T23:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/11\/of-anti-abortion-fliers-religious-freedom-and-copy-machines.html"},"modified":"2015-09-12T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2015-09-12T15:18:08","slug":"of-anti-abortion-fliers-religious-freedom-and-copy-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/11\/of-anti-abortion-fliers-religious-freedom-and-copy-machines.html","title":{"rendered":"Of anti-abortion flyers, religious freedom, and copy machines"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Office Depot in Illinois is facing a possible religious freedom complaint after it refused to copy an anti-abortion flyer.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/illinois-woman-accuses-office-depot-of-discrimination\/326705421\/<\/a><\/p>\n

'The prayer was composed by the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of the anti-abortion group Priest for Life. It calls on God to "Bring an end to the killing of children in the womb, and bring an end to the sale of their body parts. Bring conversion to all who do this, and enlightenment to all who advocate it." The prayer also includes statistics about abortion in the U.S. and decries "the evil that has been exposed in Planned Parenthood and in the entire abortion industry."'<\/i><\/p>\n

Office Depot says they have a policy against "the copying of any type of material that advocates any form of racial or religious discrimination or the persecution of certain groups of people," and that the prayer "contained material that advocates the persecution of people who support abortion rights." The complainant says that praying for conversion is not persecution.<\/p>\n

So, honestly, I don't think Office Depot has much to stand on here. Praying for someone's conversion may be obnoxious, but it's not persecution. And, yes, the lady could have used the self-service copy machines there (and, in fact, was encouraged to do so), but that's a separate-but-equal argument. And, yes, the whole Planned Parenthood "selling body parts" thang is bogus, but religious expression can't be discriminated against based on claims to objective facts.<\/p>\n

The irony here is that this is precisely the opposite<\/i> of the religious freedom cases that have been making their way through the courts. And, yes, that cuts both ways. Conservatives who have been arguing that businesses should not be forced to do something they find morally objectionable should be (but, I suspect, are not) supporting Office Depot in this. And, conversely, liberals who have been arguing that businesses must be religion-agnostic in such matters and simply provide services to all comers should look long and hard before backing Office Depot's position.<\/p>\n

The flyer is here: https:\/\/goo.gl\/XITTof<\/a> — it doesn't strike me as religious persecution, even though I'd only take one if i needed some scratch paper. Office Depot's further claim that this constitutes "hate material" to a level that legitimizes refusing to copy it seems hyperbolic as well, especially since they were willing to let the complainant use the self-service copiers.<\/p>\n

[UPDATE: As I was writing this and looking up some sources, as of this evening Office Depot has backed down. I'm not thrilled that such material will be out there, but I think it was the right thing to do.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Office Depot in Illinois is facing a possible religious freedom complaint after it refused to copy an anti-abortion flyer. http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/illinois-woman-accuses-office-depot-of-discrimination\/326705421\/ 'The prayer was composed by the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of the anti-abortion group Priest for Life. It calls on God to "Bring an end to the killing of children in the womb, … Continue reading “Of anti-abortion flyers, religious freedom, and copy machines”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,35,133,350,378,348,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-big-business","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-intolerance-persecution","category-women","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/exterior_night5B15D.jpgimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23461,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/11\/05\/when-the-catholic-bishops-arent-behind-your-anti-abortion-measure.html","url_meta":{"origin":127951,"position":0},"title":"When the Catholic Bishops aren't behind your anti-abortion measure …","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 5-Nov-11 12:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Granted, part of their motivation is that it possibly makes their own anti-abortion measures look bad, but in part it's because ... well, it's a crappy, overreaching, hubristic, theologically dubious, constitutionally questionable proposal. #ddtb Embedded Link Mississippi Catholic Bishop, Religious Leaders Denounce Personhood Anti-Abortion Bill This Tuesday, Mississippians will vote\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132295,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/13\/oklahomas-admitting-privileges-anti-abortion-law-struck-down.html","url_meta":{"origin":127951,"position":1},"title":"Oklahoma's "admitting privileges" anti-abortion law struck down","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 13-Dec-16 11:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Laws that force doctors providing abortions to have admitting privileges in local hospitals are portrayed by their advocates as being designed to \"protect women's health.\" But they are clearly and overtly designed to reduce the places where women (especially in rural areas and conservative areas) can actually get an abortion.First,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13343,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/01\/16\/i_dont_think_that_word_me.html","url_meta":{"origin":127951,"position":2},"title":"“I don’t think that word means what you think it means”","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Jan-09 4:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I am irked greatly, as the anti-abortion movement has not only co-opted the word \"Life\" to represent their policies (such that a license plate that says \"Respect Life\" can't be...","rel":"","context":"In "Writing and Language"","block_context":{"text":"Writing and Language","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/writing-and-language"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30024,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/29\/mitt-wont-touch-abortion-rights-because-his-sister-says-he-wont.html","url_meta":{"origin":127951,"position":3},"title":"Mitt won't touch abortion rights, because his sister says he won't","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Aug-12 3:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Mitt won't touch abortion rights, because his sister says he won'tWhich either means all the campaign trail rhetoric is a disingenuous draw for the Religious Right, or his sister doesn't know what she's talking about.Actually, I'd like to think it's the former, given his past, more moderate record. But not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131427,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/04\/on-being-a-doctor-who-performs-abortions.html","url_meta":{"origin":127951,"position":4},"title":"On being a doctor who performs abortions","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 4-Sep-16 4:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting article on life as an abortion provider in the great state of Utah._'As a result of such threats, Torres does take precautions. She has her mail delivered to a post-office box; she doesn\u2019t talk about her family or personal life online; she doesn\u2019t even put pro-choice bumper stickers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51487,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/17\/abortion-is-down-but-not-because-of-anti-abortion-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":127951,"position":5},"title":"Abortion is down, but not because of anti-abortion laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Jun-15 7:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"Instead, it seems largely because pregnancy rates are down -- and that's apparently due to increased use of birth control (esp. by teens and by women in areas with stricter abortion laws, facilitated by the contraceptive coverage in the ACA, and encouraged by the Great Recession). The Abortion Rate Is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127961,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127951\/revisions\/127961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}