Letter: Religion does not give me the right to be a bad citizen or a bad neighbor

A Pasco City Council member made a proposal regarding religious freedom. Religious freedom is protected by the First Amendment. It gives us the right to choose what religion we want to believe and practice — or whether we want to believe or practice any religion at all — rather than the state being able to decide what our religion should be.

Religious freedom has absolutely nothing to do with the social contracts we enter into by being part of a civil society. Society breaks down if we cannot expect all members of a society to honor these (mostly) unspoken contracts.

We expect the firefighter to put out the fires at everyone’s houses — and not just the people he likes. We expect the food we are served in the restaurant to not contain poison — even if we talk or look funny to the server.

My religion does not give me the right to be a bad citizen or a bad neighbor. In fact, Jesus, who I choose to follow, demands that I do the opposite — even if I do not want to.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 4:02 AM with the headline "Letter: Religion does not give me the right to be a bad citizen or a bad neighbor."