This is directly contrary to the text and intent of the First Amendment of the United States.

It is not up to the government to “sanction” racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination. What Bernie Sanders considers racism, sexism, and homophobia may not actually be racism, sexism or homophobia; furthermore, the government has no role in restricting freedom of speech, religion and association based on Bernie Sanders’ disapproval of how people utilize those rights. The government has no right to infringe on somebody’s activity so long as that activity does not violate the rights of others. I do not have a right to your services or your respect. I do have a right not to be harmed by you.

But the left sees it as a governmental duty to cram down their vision of society on everyone else (except, presumably, for Muslim bakers and photographers). This line of attack means the destruction of religion both in private and in public. Imagine if Sanders’ perspective here actually made policy. The government would be given the ability to shut down religious schools for teaching Biblical views on sexuality and gender; the government might even attempt to remove children from religious homes on the grounds that indoctrination in religious thought leads to discrimination. Certainly the government would close religious businesses – they’re already doing this in Oregon and New Mexico – if businessowners refuse to violate their Biblical beliefs by participating in activity they consider sinful.

This is the natural result once we determine that no duty must be violated in order to trigger governmental intervention. If I have a duty to pay my taxes, clearly the government can override my religious objections. But I have no duty to cater to your needs at my business – that is merely a voluntary transaction, requiring the consent of both sides. Hurt feelings do not create duty.

But according to the left, they do. If feelings are hurt, then the government can crush religious liberty.

That’s not what the Founders intended when they enshrined freedom of religion. James Madison wrote in 1785 that religious exercise was “precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.” Religion isn’t restricted to what you do in your church (although Sanders seems to preclude even this). It lives in your action throughout your life, and any governmental action that fails to recognize that fact risks treading on freedom of religion. Bernie Sanders does not have the right to use government to pare down your freedom to live according to your interpretation of Godly dictate, simply because he has his own definition of morality – a definition that apparently includes using the government gun to override personal conviction.