The terrorists are winning! As conservative columnist Linda Chavez explains, if Muslim cab drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport can refuse to carry passengers with alcohol, we might as well have Sharia. [She also keeps on trying to make an argument about pork and seeing-eye dogs, and I keep on not believing her.]

“Today, these drivers are objecting to contact with customers who have alcohol, pork or dogs with them; tomorrow it may be refusing to allow women with bare heads in their cabs. [...] No one has forced the Somalis to become taxi drivers. If their religious views prohibit them from having any contact with people who do not share those views, they shouldn’t choose jobs in the public service sector.”

Take that, cabbies! Don't bring your religion into the workplace! If your beliefs make those around you feel uncomfortable, then you should stop whining and quit.

I'd respond to this ridiculousness, but Chavez is perfectly capable of doing that herself. From her May 2001 article about John Ashcroft's bible study group:

"The fact is, Ashcroft's overt religiosity unnerves secularists, and even those Christians and other believers who think religion belongs in church, or perhaps at home, but never in the workplace. But for the very devout – whether they be Christian, Jew, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist -- their religion permeates all they do. For some, it affects the way they dress. For others, the way they speak. For all, the way they behave. [...] The free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees...[citizens] the right to practice as much or as little religion, and in whatever manner, as they see fit."

Take that, liberals! Banning religion from the workplace is unconstitutional! If the beliefs of those around you make you feel uncomfortable, then you should stop whining and quit.

…Some might say Chavez is being hypocritical, but those people just don’t understand the Constitution. Another passage from her article about terrori-- I mean, cabbies:

"Of course the Somali drivers could have sought a reasonable accommodation for their scruples. They could have courteously explained to passengers that they can’t touch alcohol and asked if the passengers would carry the bags containing alcohol themselves. If they did so with genuine civility, I expect most passengers would oblige."

Ah yes, the courtesy doctrine of Constitutional law! With that in the mix, I think its possible to form The Unified Theory of Linda Chavez: Your religious freedom is proportional to how nice you are (but being a Christian and a Republican helps).