Logic Department

It isn't often that one sees an argument that explodes before it even gets out of the starting gate, but this one out of the Letters column of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Intelligent as a Post) deserves some sort of a prize. It concerns a local controversy about chemists (pharmacists in local parlance) who refuse to sell abortificants on religious grounds.

So pharmacists can refuse to dispense any medications they deem contrary to their beliefs? What's next? Can a McDonald's cashier refuse me a Big Mac because she is a vegetarian? Can a grocer refuse me cigarettes because they are against his religion? Can a bookstore owner refuse to sell me a Bible because he's not a Christian?

The first example doesn't even fit the argument, as a cashier wouldn't have the option of refusal, but if you changed it to a generic restaurant owner, then the answer to each question would be yes, yes, and yes. There is no reason why a restauranteur must offer meat if he does not want to, nor a grocer to stock cigarettes, nor a bookshop to carry Bibles or any other work that the proprietor dislikes.

It's called freedom.