Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
Should a religious business owner running a religious business be forced to hire people who don’t follow his religion?
I’d guess most religious people would say no. Given the government’s assault on our religious freedom in the context of special rights for homosexuals, it’s more important than ever to stand our ground.
The Christian News Network reports that the state of Kentucky will require Ken Ham to hire non-Christians to work at his “Ark Encounter” theme attraction. And he can’t share the Gospel. The founder and president of Answers in Genesis (AIG) says he’s building a full-scale wooden ark like the one described in the Bible.
“AIG as religious organization has the legal right to hire people who believe in our Christian faith—which is a right for any religious organization, whether Christian or not,” he said in the four-minute video posted to Facebook on Saturday.
Ham said that the matter became an issue when the state asked his ministry to resubmit its application for a sales tax refund, since the scope for the theme park had changed, and will open its various attractions incrementally instead of simultaneously.
“As we reapplied for the incentive, the state surprised us with two conditions not found anywhere in the law,” he said. “That is, one, we can’t show religious preference in our hiring, and two, we couldn’t share our faith at the ark.”
The ban against religious-preference hiring or proselytizing applies to all religions. Why don’t we ever hear stories about Jewish or Muslim businesses under government assault? Would you pay good money to see homosexuals demanding that Muslim businesses provide services for their “weddings”?
Ham says what the state’s doing is illegal and cites the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which he says permits religious-preference hiring.
Photo credit: Answers in Genesis
