Government to force muslim businesses to sell alcohol and cigarettes

[dismal]

China orders Muslim shopkeepers to sell alcohol, cigarettes, to ‘weaken’ Islam

Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurant owners in a village in its troubled Xinjiang region to sell alcohol and cigarettes, and promote them in “eye-catching displays,” in an attempt to undermine Islam’s hold on local residents, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported. Establishments that failed to comply were threatened with closure and their owners with prosecution.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...s-to-sell-alcohol-cigarettes-to-weaken-islam/

Based on our gay cake discussions I would assume most people would take the "government creates business licenses so it can tell businesses what to do if they want a license" line here?

Or does that change because this time it's about muslims.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Based on our gay cake discussions I would assume most people would take the "government creates business licenses so it can tell businesses what to do if they want a license" line here?

Sure, if you make a point of going out of your way to completely ignore every argument ever made on the matter and pretend that people were arguing something totally different than they were, it's easy to draw a direct correlation between the two things.

If you don't do that, then not so much.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Based on our gay cake discussions I would assume most people would take the "government creates business licenses so it can tell businesses what to do if they want a license" line here?

Yes, this is exactly like the US goal of destroying Christainity by the promotion of gay wedding cakes in colorful displays. Nothing to do with the rights of a customer or a business owner, just the government's social standards.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Have to sell cigarettes?

Oh wait... there is another point to the OP. Hmm... seems like a ridiculous parallel. Move on everyone, nothing to see here.

 

[dismal]

Have to sell cigarettes?

Oh wait... there is another point to the OP. Hmm... seems like a ridiculous parallel. Move on everyone, nothing to see here.

You are welcome to respond to this particular issue regardless of whether you feel there are parallels to other issues.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Hmm... seems like a ridiculous parallel.

Yeah, to be parallel, China would have to maintain that IF a muslim business was selling fags, they'd have to sell them to fags, too.
Or maybe if the US government was forcing all Christain businesses, bakery or plumbers or airlines, to sell gay wedding cakes...

Other than that, it makes no sense to compare the two.

 

[dismal]

Hmm... seems like a ridiculous parallel.

Yeah, to be parallel, China would have to maintain that IF a muslim business was selling fags, they'd have to sell them to fags, too.
Or maybe if the US government was forcing all Christain businesses, bakery or plumbers or airlines, to sell gay wedding cakes...

Other than that, it makes no sense to compare the two.

Try to imagine it's a general thread about times when the shopkeeper's religious beliefs conflict with the government's political agenda.

What are the boundaries of acceptability for government telling shopkeepers what to do?

 

[Nice Squirrel]

I agree with dismal. This is almost as bad as requiring restaurants to have functioning toilets. It's bad enough they have to have them, but to have to keep them functional? Pure Communist ideology!

 

[ZiprHead]

Have to sell cigarettes?

Oh wait... there is another point to the OP. Hmm... seems like a ridiculous parallel. Move on everyone, nothing to see here.

You are welcome to respond to this particular issue regardless of whether you feel there are parallels to other issues.

Your OP is a false equivalence.

How's that for a response?

 

[SimpleDon]

China orders Muslim shopkeepers to sell alcohol, cigarettes, to ‘weaken’ Islam

Chinese authorities have ordered Muslim shopkeepers and restaurant owners in a village in its troubled Xinjiang region to sell alcohol and cigarettes, and promote them in “eye-catching displays,” in an attempt to undermine Islam’s hold on local residents, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported. Establishments that failed to comply were threatened with closure and their owners with prosecution.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...s-to-sell-alcohol-cigarettes-to-weaken-islam/

Based on our gay cake discussions I would assume most people would take the "government creates business licenses so it can tell businesses what to do if they want a license" line here?

Or does that change because this time it's about muslims.

I would support any government attempt to weaken religion. Religion is primarily an artificial means to control people by pretending that there is an invisible, all powerful being that commands certain behavior and will sit in judgement over us when we die.

It is a silly thing to believe.

It is much better if we deal with the realities of life rather than to pretend that there is some fantasy that will save us.

I don't, however, believe that this will be very effective. People cling to their fantasies, they go as far as to define their very selves based on their fantasies.

 

[dystopian]

Surely one can recognize the fundamental difference between a government not allowing businesses to selectively discriminate against its citizens, and a government forcing a business to sell specific products that run counter to its owners beliefs even though there are already plenty of businesses in the area that sell those exact same products.

These are not equivalent situations.

 

[dismal]

You are welcome to respond to this particular issue regardless of whether you feel there are parallels to other issues.

Your OP is a false equivalence.

How's that for a response?

Predictable. Repetitive. Unfortunate.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Try to imagine it's a general thread about times when the shopkeeper's religious beliefs conflict with the government's political agenda.

What are the boundaries of acceptability for government telling shopkeepers what to do?

Well, if it's a business that sells alcohol and cigarettes, then they shouldn't be able to discriminate based on race, gender, religion, etc in who they sell alcohol and cigarettes to.

 

[dismal]

Surely one can recognize the fundamental difference between a government not allowing businesses to selectively discriminate against its citizens, and a government forcing a business to sell specific products that run counter to its owners beliefs even though there are already plenty of businesses in the area that sell those exact same products.

These are not equivalent situations.

The government is not forcing them to sell alcohol and cigarettes it is only making this a condition of having a business license.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Yeah, to be parallel, China would have to maintain that IF a muslim business was selling fags, they'd have to sell them to fags, too.
Or maybe if the US government was forcing all Christain businesses, bakery or plumbers or airlines, to sell gay wedding cakes...

Other than that, it makes no sense to compare the two.

Try to imagine it's a general thread about times when the shopkeeper's religious beliefs conflict with the government's political agenda.

But from your OP, you wondered if the religious beliefs of the shopkeeper will cause conflict in the positions of the posters on this forum. It's not that much of a general thread, it's an attempt to play gotcha here.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I would support any government attempt to weaken religion.

But they're not attacking the religion.
They're trying to minimize the religionists' power to coerce business owners to live in accordance with the beliefs of the theists.

It's more like forcing Federally-funded Catholic emergency rooms to provide morning-after birth control. +
But only the ones in Boston.
In an attempt to weaken the Boston Diocese's political power.

 

[SimpleDon]

Surely one can recognize the fundamental difference between a government not allowing businesses to selectively discriminate against its citizens, and a government forcing a business to sell specific products that run counter to its owners beliefs even though there are already plenty of businesses in the area that sell those exact same products.

These are not equivalent situations.

The government is not forcing them to sell alcohol and cigarettes it is only making this a condition of having a business license.

I don't mean to be obtuse, but I am still not sure what point you are trying to make here, Are you complaining about the method that the government is trying to force them to sell alcohol and cigarettes by making it a condition of being issued a business license? That the government should pass a law instead?

Or don't you think that the Chinese government should be trying to weaken religion?

 

[dismal]

Try to imagine it's a general thread about times when the shopkeeper's religious beliefs conflict with the government's political agenda.

But from your OP, you wondered if the religious beliefs of the shopkeeper will cause conflict in the positions of the posters on this forum. It's not that much of a general thread, it's an attempt to play gotcha here.

It was an attempt to discuss the principles people operate under with respect to the government requiring shopkeepers to do things against their religious beliefs.

But if you think it's a gotcha thread you may consider yourself not gotten and stop participating now.

 

[ksen]

Your OP is a false equivalence.

How's that for a response?

Predictable. Repetitive. Unfortunate.

But not incorrect.

 

[Nice Squirrel]