Atheist News Editor Warns Liberals Against Conflating ‘Bigotry’ With Sincere Religious Beliefs

Jan 27, 2018 by Jill

by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post:

A news editor and professed atheist is warning LGBT advocates not to conflate bigotry with people’s sincerely held religious viewpoints.

Brendan O’Neill, an outspoken free speech advocate and editor for the British libertarian online magazine Spiked, was part of a panel Thursday evening sponsored by the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based National Constitution Center.

The subject of the panel event was the Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which centers on whether a business owner has the right to refuse to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony over religious objections.

O’Neill told the audience that he was “worried about the way in which religious beliefs are now being redefined by some people as akin to bigotry.”

“I come from a religious background, so I know lots of people who think that marriage should be between men and women, and I can tell you they are not bigots. They do not hate gay people,” said O’Neill.

“They simply have a religious belief about the institution of marriage. And I am worried about the constant creeping redefinition of belief as hate crime. Of certain convictions as a form of abuse or bigotry.”

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