Dave Ross: Should debates over gay marriage be decided by the free market?

Is there one God or are there two?

It looks like Indiana will be the latest state to pass its own Religious Freedom Restoration Act in response to the spread of gay marriage.

Because there are business owners around the country, in particular florists, bakers, and photographers, who say their sincere religious beliefs prevent them from accepting gay couples as customers, and legislators want to protect these businesses from discrimination lawsuits.

But there’s always a fundamental divide in these debates over what God wants. And from what I heard in the Indiana House debate, the Lord wants it both ways, because as the Bible says, he himself would minister to anyone who sought him out.

But the Lord also wants the faithful to glorify his name in their day-to-day work.

Or maybe the Lord has nothing to do with it.

“This is not about religion. This is about defaming a group of individuals that you feel are different than you are, and nothing more than that,” one legislator said.

So given all the confusion, I was thinking Indiana ought consider the suggestion of Oklahoma State Representative Emily Virgin: that if your religion does prevent you from serving certain customers, you should at least have to post a sign in the window, spelling it out.

“If you want to discriminate under this law, if it passes, then you’re legally allowed to do that, but you need to own it. You need to fess up to it.”

The idea being that if the Lord can’t decide, give the free market a crack at it.