“Evil does not exist; once you have crossed the threshold, all is good. Once in another world, you must hold your tongue.” —Franz Kafka

While evil people exist, they hold no power in this world. This is because there are no such things as human acts, only divine acts. Humans are only involved insofar as they are the channels through which divine acts flow.

This is best illustrated by the story of Joseph, where God first threw him in a well in order to be picked up by a caravan and thus find his way into Egypt. Then in Egypt, God threw him into prison. At the same time, God threw two of the servants of the king of Egypt into prison such that Joseph’s interpretation of dreams would serve its purpose.

Notice I didn’t mention Joseph’s brothers, the wife of Potiphar, etc… This is because these are the veils of secondary causation.

“Secondary causes are only a veil to occupy the common people. God’s elect see through the causes, to the Causer of causes.” —Rumi

Interestingly, the following poem appeared recently by a Jewish writer in the Times of Israel.

God Who hides Himself in the beauty of secrecy

His mind that is hidden from any thought

Cause of all causes, crowned with the supernal crown

A crown they give to You, O Lord.

(Abraham Maimin, 16th Century)

The God Who Hides

I’m not sure how to read you. Your comments hinge on a definition of “coercion,” but the definition varies from example to example, so its not clear what you mean.

For example, your Colorado cake shop example is an example of government coercion, where active behavior is compelled under the threat of force by the government. That is an example of coercion, but you’ll find most liberals opposed that government decision.

But in your other examples, you seem to merely refer to social norms. That’s not coercion in any meaningful sense; if it were than there is no such thing as freedom at all. Everything is coercive, including language, food, clothing, social relationships. If everything is coercive, then your comment explains nothing.

(You “pronoun” example I cannot verify. I did just do a quick look but I cannot find an Econlog blog post that matches your description. Could you link?)

To reiterate my point in my first comment, you claim of conflict is not clear. I think you need to clarify exactly what you mean, rather than make vague references

Private people and bodies have been coerced in the name of equal dignity of designated groups. And this coercion has been instigated by liberals and cheered on by libertarians.

Just one example where the liberal rhetoric of letting alone doesn’t match the action is the Masterpiece cakeshop vs Colorado civil rights Commission….

Analogous equal dignity of minorities such as American blacks was violated by the private acts of discrimination performed by third parties.

I concur.

First, the Masterpiece Cakeshop case merely sought to apply Colorado’s version of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, arguing that a private store discriminated against a protected class. SCOTUS contrieved to get rid of the case by claiming that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission acted with malice towards the store owner. (Sotomajor noted in dissent that SCOTUS declined to find that Trump acted with malice towards a protected class when he repeatedly declared his intention to ban Muslims–a much more egregious example of express malice.)

So, yes, civil rights laws DO entail coersion of private actors, and people have sought to apply them for the benefit of various protected classes–including blacks and gays. And courts have not been very consistent. Does anything think that if the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop were a member of the KKK, SCOTUS would have affirmed his right to refuse to serve black people based on his religious beliefs?

More generally, I concur that the desire to use law to defend the dignity of members of protected classes conflicts with free speech/free exercise of religion. I find the desire to affirm people’s dignity to be laudable–and, I fear, simply beyond the legitimate power of the law.