Religijnie motywowana odmowa świadczenia usług w świetle koncepcji doux commerce

Abstrakt

The well-known cases of religiously motivated refusal to serve customers deserve a thorough analysis as they pose a serious challenge to liberal-democratic values, the rule of law, and freedom in economic affairs. Are they examples of legitimate expression of religious conscience or just acts of discrimination which are forbidden by law? If the latter, how swift should be a reaction of the state by applying sanctions provided by anti-discrimination laws? How the state through its laws should shape the relationship between religion and commerce? To answer these questions the Enlightenment concept of doux commerce will be debated since this idea entails an assumption that markets promote interactions among strangers and thus can facilitate peaceful cooperation in a pluralistic society. In particular, large part of this article will be dedicated to the recent analyses of this concept advanced by Nathan B. Oman. He underlined the moral significance of markets which train people to interact on the basis of personal detachment and art of putting unsolvable issues aside.