Religious Discrimination

The New York Times is running a long series on the exemptions religious organization enjoy from secular regulation. Today 10/9/2006 the focus is on the often horrendous way religious organizations treat their own employees, and then claim legal protection from lawsuits.

I suppose it is fair enough that religious organizations can claim these exemptions, over who is acceptable as a minister for example, but in some of the cases presented by the Times there is clearly some abuse.

I don't want to limit religious freedoms at all. But I wonder why it should not be legitimate for other, tolerant, people and organizations to discriminate against religious groups that are themselves intolerant. Surely if a political subdivision (city, county etc.) which has adopted non-discrimination laws knows that a religiou group is not willing to abide by the laws should in turn be able to boycott that organization.

In other words, secular and political organizations should not be able to discriminate in any way against individual Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews, and Muslims, but should be able to refuse to support any Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, or Muslim organization that signalled its refusal to abide by the law.