Committing adultery between men and women
Lying about virginity
Not bleeding when a woman is losing her virginity
Being an engaged female virgin but having been raped
Having sex with a woman who is menstruating
Eating a blood sausage
Eating a cheeseburger or any other dish mixing meat and milk products
Eating ordinary leavened bread during Passover
Eating pork
Eating shrimp, crab or lobster
Having an uncircumcised penis
Working on the Sabbath
Cursing their parents
Planting more than one type of seed in a field
Wearing clothing made of more than one type of fiber
If a man, cutting the hair over one’s temples or cutting the edges of one’s beard
Speaking in church
1 (Jackson, 2015)
2 Paraphrasing or quoting directly from a list in (RationalWiki, 2015)
While we’re at it, how about some restrictions that are not in the Bible?
Using birth control
Having had an abortion
And, given the degree of hostility expressed by rightwing zealots toward Islam, how about a county clerk who refuses marriage to anyone who violates his (presumably not her) Islamic standards:3
Not being a Muslim
Opposing the spread of Islam
Being an atheist
Arguing about Islam without adequate knowledge
Being friends with anyone who discusses Islam without adequate knowledge
Trying and failing to write a religious poem that is more beautiful than those in the Qur’an
Writing something and claiming that it is from Allah
Then again, if a Mormon were to refuse to relinquish responsibilities as a public servant while imposing tenets of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, perhaps we’d see restrictions on granting marriage licenses to people who drink or have drunk alcohol, coffee or tea or used tobacco.4
In Jewish lore, we don’t criticize or look down on non-Jews for not following Jewish religious customs (except for the Seven Noahide Laws) or try to impose them on gentiles.5 For example, it is forbidden to light a fire on the Sabbath, but gentiles are permitted to do so without doing anything wrong – hence the custom of hiring a “Sabbath Goy” to relight a fire that has gone out during the Sabbath. Gentiles who eat shrimp with bacon are doing nothing wrong. Observant Jews who own a Kosher restaurant don’t have to serve forbidden foods, but you’ve never heard of Jews in America congregating around a burger joint demonstrating against cheeseburgers.
Finally, the resistance to gay marriage mirrors historical bigotry about marriage between people with different shades of pink and brown skin. Few today outside the ranks of the KKK and the neo-Nazis would justify refusal of a public official to carry out her duties based on her rejection of “inter-racial” marriage, whether based on interpretation of religious texts or not.6
So think about these principles:
Following one’s religious principles in private life and in one’s community without harming others – that’s religious freedom.
Imposing one’s beliefs on non-believers – that’s bigotry.
Staying a civil servant while violating the law of the land – that’s stupidity.
