Would a muslim working at a cashier scan pork/alcohol?

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jc6chan
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23 Nov 2009, 8:03 am

Wombat wrote:
Islamic bar tender who refused to give anyone a drink?


I haven't even heard of a Muslim bar tender, at least in Canada. I guess there are plenty of people to fill the position and the Mulsim communnity would look at that person weird if they take the job.



zer0netgain
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23 Nov 2009, 8:52 am

I know some Muslims made a stink over this. Some agreed with the store's move to allow them to not ring up sales involving items that offended them, but the mass majority said they should be fired. You want to be a cashier, you sell what your employer carries. You're being asked to ring it up, not consume it.

I agree with the later. If you don't want to deal with things that offend you, find a job that fits that bill. You have no right to demand your employer exempt you from necessary job tasks because of your beliefs.



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23 Nov 2009, 12:01 pm

Would a vegan cook a steak??

Yes, for I have seen it so.


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26 Nov 2009, 6:00 am

Well, as already mentioned, it would depend on the devoutness of the Muslim concerned. I knew two Muslim girls at school whose parents definitely drank and almost certainly didn't stick to halal, and I'd guess that in a modern Western culture, there are plenty like them.

There is, of course, an accepted precedent in supermarkets where there are cashiers under the legal drinking age themselves; they simply get an older member of staff to ring the alcohol through. I suspect a Muslim cashier who really didn't like to ring through booze or pork could call a non-Muslim (or not as devout) member of staff to deal with it without causing too much of a fuss.

The issue is really whether you're just being devout yourself (not wanting to sell alcohol) or trying to force the issue on others (not wanting them to be able to buy it). The former is OK by me, the latter shouldn't be allowed when the laws of the land permit the sale of alcohol.

It's a bit like that woman recently who was working as a registrar, performing civil marriages (i.e. non-religious, like the kind you might have at a judge's office in the US), and refused to carry out civil partnership ceremonies (marriages in all but name) for gay and lesbian couples, on the grounds of her Christian faith. The issue with her appeared to be not just that she didn't like performing such ceremonies - in that instance, she could simply have had another registrar deal with them, because there are several at any given office and the ceremonies are usually booked some weeks or months in advance - it was that she didn't agree with them at all and didn't want those couples to be married by anyone. Similarly, doctors in the UK who have religious objections to abortion can refuse a patient who asks them, but they are legally obliged to refer the patient to another doctor who has no objections to the procedure.

In other words, you can refuse to provide a service you morally object to, but you can't legally prevent the person who wants that service from going elsewhere, assuming that whatever they want is actually legal.


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iamnotaparakeet
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26 Nov 2009, 6:08 am

When I was the Houseware's Salesfloor associate in Shakopee Wal-Mart back in 2007, I would often be called in to help as a back-up cashier. Most of the time though, this just meant assisting the Somali cashiers by scanning the pork products for them and bagging the items.



jc6chan
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26 Nov 2009, 8:22 pm

ThatRedHairedGrrl wrote:
In other words, you can refuse to provide a service you morally object to, but you can't legally prevent the person who wants that service from going elsewhere, assuming that whatever they want is actually legal.


Well, laws are made on the basis of morals anyway, and I don't think that pork consumption being banned is a moral issue. Honestly, why would beef and chicken be OK and pork not on moral grounds? The only reason is because "their God says so" about banning pork consumption. Alcohol maybe more on moral grounds but i don't see how its immoral to consume a little bit.



Jaythefordman
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28 Nov 2009, 12:31 am

I've worked offshore in malaysia for a couple of years, and being in the middle of a predominantly muslim country you see some interesting shades of 'muslim'. As mentioned, theres as many levels of how serious a Muslim individual takes his faith and I have known many muslims who drink and eat pork. The point I wanted to make is that while working with a 90% muslim crew they did not condemn my eating during Ramadan, thats their faith and I can live mine. Once when asked whether I am christian, I replied "no, I'm an Atheist", to which the man replied "so, then, you are a free thinker." I found that an extremely wise acceptance of beliefs. I found that common in malaysia.

I think the Muslims in the Uk are taking things a little too seriously in order to 'islamise' british society, and britain is allowing it.