Religious Discrimination Laws vs. Free Speech
September 24, 2008

Washington, D.C.--A Christian anti-abortion group, the Christian Institute, recently filed a lawsuit against Google after Google rejected one of its ads. The group’s lawsuit claimed Google was discriminating on religious grounds. The lawsuit was settled out of court after Google agreed to run the ad.

“Private companies have the right to decide what advertisements they will run,” said Don Watkins, a writer for the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.

“Just as the Christian Institute’s right to free speech entitles it to promote its views--and to refuse to promote views it disagrees with--so Google’s right to free speech entitles it to promote its views and to refuse to promote views it disagrees with. Using ‘religious discrimination’ laws to force Google to run anti-abortion ads is to force them to promote an anti-abortion message.

“Laws against ‘religious discrimination’ by private parties are incompatible with freedom of speech. They should be abolished.”

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Ayn Rand Center experts are available for interviews on this topic.

Contact: Larry Benson
E-mail: media@aynrandcenter.org
Phone: (949) 222-6550, ext. 213

For more information on Objectivism’s unique point of view, go to ARC’s Web site. The Ayn Rand Center promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

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