Readers React: The ‘sincerely held belief’ slippery slope

To the editor: Once again the religious right shamelessly seeks the “sincerely held beliefs” license to discriminate. (“Don’t use religion to cloak bias toward LGBT families,” Op-Ed, Sept. 10)

If the misleadingly titled Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act were to become law, faith-based providers could deny adoption rights to more than same-sex couples. Nonbeliever couples would be deemed definitively unsuitable as parents. Some religions might deem interracial couples unsuitable.

Such woefully misguided legislation invests avowed “religious beliefs and moral convictions” with virtual impunity. They will be immune to vetting for lack of rationality, while the “sincerity” with which they’re held will be all but impossible to plumb.

Freedom of religion should absolutely apply within homes and churches, where it’s fine to piously disdain nonbelievers. But within the larger society, no religion’s adherents should be allowed to infringe on the fundamental rights of fellow citizens, even those deemed hopeless heretics.

Gary Dolgin, Santa Monica

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