Posted on 04/27/2006 6:55:59 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
A growing problem at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport is making it difficult for some air passengers to catch cabs.
Some cab drivers are refusing to take passengers because they are carrying alcohol, such as bottles of wine or cases of beer, which conflicts with their religious beliefs.
"He loaded our luggage into the trunk, he saw our box carrying duty free liquor from Jamaica and told us he would have to take another cab,” says passenger Greg Kline.
Kline did not easily find another cab.
"We approached the next cab in line, he just closed the cab and took off without a passenger, as did the one next to him,” he says.
Airport staff say Muslim drivers have refused to take passengers with alcohol 922 times in the past year.
Airport policy does allow drivers to refuse a fare, only if they return to the beginning of the cab line, which can mean a wait of 3 to 4 hours until their next fare.
Airport officials have been meeting with the Cab Driver Advisory Board to resolve the issue. They say they have investigated policies at other airports, but concluded that the problem is unique to MSP.
Well some cabbies refuse passengers carrying alcohol for religious reasons, while some pharmacists refuse filling prescriptions for contraceptives for religious reasons.
Well said! Both are cases where people licensed by the (state/city) government aren't serving specific customers based on religious beliefs. In both cases licenses should be suspended. And equally, in both cases there are other jobs available where they wouldn't have to go against their beliefs - if they can't do the job, they shouldn't have taken it.
Do you believe, then, that pharmacists should be forced to fill orders for the "morning after" pill, even if it is against their religious beliefs?
Yes. The same way I believe that Jehovah's Witnesses who work in hospitals should be required to help with blood transfusions if called upon to do so, and that Jehovah's Witness pharmacists should be required to dispense factor VIII to hemophiliacs with a valid prescription. Although it's not really an issue now, before human insulin was available, what if a Jewish or Muslim pharmacist refused to dispense procine insulin? What if a nurse refused to help a surgeon implant a porcine heart valve?
I feel letting people pick and choose is dangerous. You either can do the job, or you can't. There are pharmacy posts, such as oncologic pharmacists, etc, where these pharmacists would not be put in that position. They chose to take the job of a community pharmacist, are licensed to do their job, and should do it.
And why is that?
I remember them. I think they stopped making them in the 60's. They were special-made for the cab industry
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