Is Discrimination Always Wrong?

Judging from the response to some of our last few posts, it would seem that many in our society have deemed 'discrimination' to be a great evil.  Is this really the case?  Is discrimination always wrong?  The aim of this article is to explore that question.  For the purpose of this article I will use the following Merriam-Webster definition of discrimination:

the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently

First of all, by this definition all laws discriminate, do they not?  Each and every law discriminates against one action in favor of another.  Whether its speeding or homicide, all laws discriminate against certain behaviors.  So the question is not whether we should discriminate (we already do and rightly so), but how do we discriminate appropriately?

I think we can be helped by the following statement;

"Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”~Jesus

What did Jesus mean by that?  Let’s establish first of all that He is saying that we ARE to make judgments.  This is clear throughout the Bible.  Jesus is telling us to stop being intellectually lazy and judge rightly - which for Him meant according to God's law and the spirit of that law--not according to appearances.

Massachusetts's gubernatorial candidate, Scott Lively, recently gave a good example of this in his response to a question regarding whether or not to support non-discrimination protection for transgender people in public places or accommodations (ie. allowing men in women’s locker rooms and restrooms):

Scott Lively: Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or nationality is completely irrational because those things are morally neutral. But sexual conduct is not morally neutral. And has serious public health, sociological, moral implications. It’s perfectly rational and reasonable to exercise discrimination on those grounds. So all the arguments attempting to compare race with homosexuality and transgenderism are simply comparing apples and oranges.

In my opinion, Mr. Lively is judging correctly.   Discrimination on the basis of behavior is wholly different than discriminating on the basis of a neutral, immutable characteristic such as race.  This is a huge distinction often (deliberately?) overlooked in the current debate on LGBT ‘rights.’  

Now, let’s compare Mr. Lively’s answer to that of his two opponents.

Jeff McCormick: Absolutely I support that. It actually makes my skin crawl to understand how some people can take a segment of our population [and discriminate against it] . . . If I'm having a Catholic wedding or if I'm having a bar mitzvah, it doesn't make sense to me how someone can selectively discriminate in our society at all. To me this is an absolute no-brainer.

I would agree.  No brain was involved in that response.  If his answer was incoherent, the third candidate's answer was positively absurd:

Juliette Kayyam: Absolutely I would support an inclusion of transgender. Let me be clear on the transgender issue. We can respect other viewpoints, but we're on the right side of history here. Anyone who has lived the last 20, 30, 40 years know that we are on the right side of history.

The right side of history?  What exactly is the history of people who like to dress as the opposite sex and have healthy body parts amputated to conform to their unhealthy minds?  These last two are classic examples of the sort of gutless, superficial judging by appearances that Jesus condemned.  Another name for this is political correctness. The only thing you need to know for this kind of judging is LGBT = GOOD and Biblical morality = BAD.  Too much of what passes for public discourse is an absurd reflection of this.  Nothing more is needed but to check your brain at the door and hop on the bandwagon...

We can debate all day long about what actually is good and bad and that is where the debate should focus, but let's not have any more nonsense about outlawing discrimination.  Outlawing discrimination, were it even possible, would be an act of discrimination itself.  We must instead acknowledge that all laws discriminate against one kind of behavior in favor of another.  Just ask Elaine Hueguenin who was fined thousands of dollars for declining to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony;  The law discriminated against her behavior in favor of the behavior of the two lesbians who sued her.  The question is, did it do so rightly?

The real task before us is not to outlaw discrimination, but to  “judge correctly” so that our laws will discriminate rightly.  They should be  in harmony with morality and not just reflect a superficial appearance of what is right according to prevailing public opinion.  We have ample reason to believe that the standard for what is truly right and good can be found in the Bible.  True morality is independent of the whims of human opinion and does not change.