At a business meeting, a man refused to shake hands with me and all the other women in the room, citing “religious restrictions.” He proceeded to shake hands with the men. I love the diversity in this country; normally my belief would be that religious freedoms should be respected. The issue is not whether “religious freedoms should be respected.” Here in the land of St. Justin the Shirtless, we affirm that principle without hesitation. Your colleague has the right to practice his faith, whatever it may be. And the answer, in my opinion, is clearly “no.”Within the cloistered walls of religious institutions an argument can be made that it’s acceptable for men and women to sing from different songbooks.

Source: thestar August 27, 2016 15:00 UTC