I recently read a pair of articles concerning the case of a woman that the Fair Housing Center of Michigan is taking action against for advertising a desire for a Christian roommate. I must confess that I find this appalling. It does not seem to me that it is anyone's business who she chooses to live with. This applies even if she were seeking a person of a particular race as a roommate, which Ms. Haynes believes to be an analogous situation. While such an advertisement would likely demonstrate racism, it is still a person's right to choose who they spend their time with, not to mention live with. This is true because despite Ms. Haynes' contention, this woman is not in the business of renting. She is simply seeking another person to share her living space for the purpose of easing the burden of the rent that some other party is charging. Allowing someone into your home is far different from allowing someone into your place of business. If such were the case and the advertisement were for Christian “renters” instead of for a “roommate”, then this complaint would be valid. As it stands, this is not even an issue of freedom of expression but of common decency and privacy.
I also think that there is a need to clarify why seeking a roommate of a particular religion is not bigotry as it would be if the issue were concerning race. A religion, whether it be Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or any other religion contains certain requirements for behavior. Should a Muslim find himself with a pagan roommate he (and likely the pagan) would find this to be a very unpleasant arrangement, filled with arguments over theology, TV, clothing, relationships, what food should be eaten, etc. Individual races are an accident of pigmentation and evolutionary developments suited to particular climates and thus contain no such mutually exclusive moral and religious codes. These codes can and often do coexist peacefully in the public square but doing so in the home is a very different matter indeed. Taking this into consideration, the woman the Fair Housing Center is taking action against is simply seeking a roommate with whom she can live peacefully.
Concerning the issue of whether or not it is okay to seek a roommate based on specific criteria but not to advertise for it, how else shall this be done? I can readily imagine at least two situations in which advertising is the best solution. Perhaps this woman has many friends but they are mostly married, or live far away? Perhaps she is new to the area and has few friends among whom she could seek a roommate. In either case, advertising for a specific roommate is the quickest and most logical solution.
I sincerely hope that after reflecting on this matter, they retract their action and allow this woman to go back to her life.
Sincerely,
Eric Postma
ejpostma2@gmail.com
