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Should a printing house be compelled to print materials it finds offensive?
Consider this hypothetical situation: a family runs a local print shop, normally doing things like pamphlets and signs for local businesses, baseball cards for local little league teams, and election materials for local politicians.
Yesterday a customer came in to order 11" x 17" posters to be made of a proof showing a silhouettes of three camels with riders under a night sky. The poster's headline reads "You know it's a myth. This season, celebrate REASON." Smaller print at the bottom indicates sponsorship by an atheist group.
The shop owner identifies himself as a Christian and says he and his family celebrate Christmas. He refuses to take the job, but gives the customer the number to another print shop a few miles away. The customer promises he'll return with his attorney.
Should the print shop owner have printed the sign? Should he face legal consequences for having refused to do so?
This is tough to decide and I'm extending the expiration. On the one hand, I think the shop owners wouldn't find backing in courts (given recent cases and events like the Mayflower Inn in Vermont), on the other I'm not sure if it being a public accommodation matters (since the shop owner is complicit in the speech, where a building owner isn't complicit in the business of, say, an atheist organization's meeting). I appreciate the turnabout question (Christian asking an atheist shop owner to print Christian pamphlets) though I think the atheist organization would get the same protection as a religious organization.
Still, I can't help but think there's a line here where a printer could validly say "I'm just not going to print that." and be safe from legitimate prosecution. Pornography is one example. But maybe it does have to do with protected group status. A baker can decline to bake a cake that's in bad taste or offensive (ie, a cake that
6 Answers
- TicToc....Lv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
Not in a zillion years because we are still a democracy where freedom reins supreme. If the family hates the idea then the decision to not print it should stand.
- VinncentLv 78 years ago
NO, business owners can't be compelled to offer you their services this has nothing to do with the 1st amendment that only limits the federal government's interference private individuals can limit your free speech all they'd like. This is why you can't force a local newspaper to print your manifesto or even your letter to the editor they own the medium they decide what they print. Atheism isn't a religion so it doesn't enjoy the same civil protections under the law there are special classes that are protected and religion is one of them. If your hypothetical situation had an atheist shop owner who refused to print Christian posters he might run into legal issues if the Christians could prove the refusal was due to their religion.
- njyogibearLv 78 years ago
a print shop is a public accommodation and they can't discriminate based on viewpoint. why should they care if some other people are athiests? in America we have all kinds of people and if one guy is an atheist it doesn't deter another guy from being religious.
