The below Salt Shaker's ministry (Australia) that wrote this article closed down in December of 2016; however, they have an archive, though the links in the below article seem invalid:  https://www.saltshakers.org.au/  

Airbnb – If you ‘discriminate’ you’re NOT WELCOME!

Posted on our website - Posted on Facebook

For some time we’ve noticed that Airbnb, the organisation that provides rooms, houses and apartments for accommodation, has been supportive of the homosexual cause. They have been a sponsor of the Sydney mardi gras for some time (see here).

Airbnb have a detailed 'nondiscrimination policy' where hosts are told they can’t discriminate on a range of grounds including race, sexuality and religion. There have apparently been complaints about some hosts being ‘racist’ towards guests, and of course there is huge sensitivity about homosexuality!

Whilst that might seem ‘reasonable’ to some people on the surface, this is often problematic since the accommodation is often just a single room in a private home. We’ve regularly reported on Bed and Breakfast owners in the UK who have declined to provide a double bed to a non-married heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple being subjected to a ‘complaint’ and court hearings.

Now GUESTS can’t ‘discriminate’!

But this week Airbnb extended their ‘discrimination policy’ to customers! They sent an EMAIL to everyone on their list who has ever used their service or joined as a ‘member’ on their website, asking them to sign their new ‘Community Commitment’!

As well as telling HOSTS that they can’t discriminate, they have EXTENDED that to GUESTS!

The Community Commitment reads:

I agree to treat everyone in the Airbnb community—regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age—with respect, and without judgment or bias.

If you aren’t prepared to sign the Airbnb ‘Community Commitment’, promising that you won’t discriminate, and will treat everyone ‘without judgement or bias’ in relation to a long list of categories, then you WON’T be able to book accommodation at an Airbnb venue!

In fact, they suggest you can cancel your account – if you have already booked future accommodation with them, then that will be cancelled! They explain that in their blog (below) and in their Q&A page here.

There are a couple of exceptions – for instance a single woman won’t have to accept a booking from a male if they have to share common areas such as a bathroom or kitchen.

If you sign up to the fairly short ‘Community Commitment’ you will ALSO be agreeing to the much longer ‘Discrimination policy’ which is all about ‘inclusion and respect’.

We received the email friom Airbnb because we have previously booked accommodation (a commercially run B&B that had an option for a room on Airbnb) with Airbnb. Naturally we won’t be SIGNING the ‘Community Commitment’ since it is so wide-ranging and inclusive.

Of course, Airbnb is actually discriminating against ALL the people who aren’t prepared to sign the statement. Rod Dreher from American Conservative has a very good column on this development, and they have included the WHOLE EMAIL that Airbnb sent out. They note that one could take it to mean that we just have to be ‘nice to everyone’. But of course, that isn’t really what this is all about…

After reflecting on what this ‘Commitment’ really means and whether Christians and conservatives can actually sign it (which he says we can’t in good conscience), Rod concludes, 

"I still can’t get over how bizarre it is for a business to police its customers like this, not wanting to do business with people who hold the “wrong” views. I’m about to check out from a Courtyard Marriott. What if in the future, hotels like this compelled their customers to sign such a commitment? There would be few places that religious conservatives and others who didn’t accept the LGBT line could stay when they travel. It’s not hard to imagine gay activists in the near future instituting a corporate campaign to get “Fairness Pledges” to be part of the business model of hotels and other businesses. If they succeed, then somebody will need to come up with The Religious Conse rvative Motorist Green Book.

So, let’s get this straight: the state can force a florist to arrange flowers for a same-sex wedding, in violation of her religious beliefs. And if this Airbnb policy is legal, a homestay network can force its customers to affirm certain beliefs to have the ability to purchase its service. Crazy times.”

A link to this article FOLLOWS the Airbnb blog post below.

Sources

Airbnb

Airbnb website - Australian site

Airbnb Non-discrimination policy page – click here:

Includes:

- Airbnb’s Nondiscrimination Policy: Our Commitment to Inclusion and Respect

- General questions about Airbnb's Nondiscrimination Policy

- General questions about the Airbnb Community Commitment

- How do I report discrimination to Airbnb?

- Host resources and FAQs about nondiscrimination

Airbnb ‘Community Commitment’ blog page (Explains the new policy):

Earlier this year, we launched a comprehensive review of our platform in an effort to fight bias and discrimination in the Airbnb community. This effort was led by Laura Murphy, the former head of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington D.C. Legislative Office and in consultation with dozens of experts from the advocacy and civil rights community, such as former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. You can read more about what we learned and the steps we’re taking to fight discrimination in this report.

In response to the review’s findings, we’re taking steps to ensure that everyone who uses Airbnb agrees to a stronger, more detailed nondiscrimination policy. Over the coming days we’ll begin asking each host and guest to agree to the Airbnb Community Commitment, which says:

I agree to treat everyone in the Airbnb community—regardless of their race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age—with respect, and without judgment or bias.

Agreeing to the Community Commitment also means agreeing to adhere to our nondiscrimination policy.

When you log in to your Airbnb account, you’ll see the new commitment language and be asked to accept it. If you choose to decline, you will not be able to host or book using Airbnb and will have the option to cancel your account. Once an account is canceled, future booked trips will be canceled; however, you’ll still be able to browse Airbnb. If in the future you accept the commitment to inclusion, you’re welcome to come back.

The Community Commitment and the details we outlined in the report issued in September are just the beginning of our work to ensure Airbnb is fair for everyone. We welcome your thoughts and feedback and hope you’ll share your ideas by emailing us at allbelong@airbnb.com.

 

Article from American Conservative

No Bigots Need Book An Airbnb Room

By Rod Dreher

Airbnb sent this out this morning to all its members and customers:

The Airbnb Community Commitment

Earlier this year, we launched a comprehensive effort to fight bias and discrimination in the Airbnb community. As a result of this effort, we’re asking everyone to agree to a Community Commitment beginning November 1, 2016. Agreeing to this commitment will affect your use of Airbnb, so we wanted to give you a heads up about it.

What is the Community Commitment?

You commit to treat everyone—regardless of race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age—with respect, and without judgment or bias.

How do I accept the commitment?

On or after November 1, we’ll show you the commitment when you log in to or open the Airbnb website, mobile or tablet app and we’ll automatically ask you to accept.

What if I decline the commitment?

If you decline the commitment, you won’t be able to host or book using Airbnb, and you have the option to cancel your account. Once your account is canceled, future booked trips will be canceled. You will still be able to browse Airbnb but you won’t be able to book any reservations or host any guests.

What if I have feedback about the commitment?

We welcome your feedback about the Community Commitment and all of our nondiscrimination efforts. Feel free to read more about the commitment. You can also reach out to us at allbelong@airbnb.com.

The Airbnb Team

_____________

What does this mean?

You commit to treat everyone—regardless of race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age—with respect, and without judgment or bias.

Does it mean being kind and polite to all? If so, very few people would have trouble signing it. I certainly could sign it. But I don’t think that’s what it means. I read it as an affirmation that in every circumstance judgment or bias is wrong, and to sign it means a commitment to that belief. I could not sign it. By requiring me to sign it to participate in Airbnb, the company is passing judgment on my religious beliefs, and committing itself to bias against me and others who hold them.

I can understand Airbnb wanting to police the views and actions of those who rent out rooms to the public through it. I think it’s overreach. I mean, I think people who are welcoming others into their home should have total freedom to pick and choose their guests, even if they do so from bias. In fact, if a potential Airbnb host doesn’t want me in his house because I am a white Christian, I don’t want to be in the house of a person like that anyway. If an Airbnb host only wants to make her property open to women, or LGBTs, or Muslims, or any other designation, I believe Airbnb should grant them that right out of respect to their sovereignty over their home. So, I disagree with Airbnb requiring this policy of its hosts. But it is defensible.

[I disagree that it is defensible.  The right to contract (or not contract) is unlimited.  It is the right to discriminate.  But the right to discriminate itself is being discriminated against by those who claim that discrimination is wrong.  This shows bad faith on the part of those who champion tolerance and non-discrimination.  If their way is “superior” they should set the example for everyone else, and if their way is the right way, everyone else will “see the light” and join them in humanist / pseudo-spiritual utopia.  “A man’s home is his castle”.  “Individual Liberties are antecedent to all government.” (Common Law Maxim)  The Constitution is to be interpreted according to the Common Law.  The Common Law trumps Civil Law or corporate law.  Individual liberties (of the legitimate host population) trump all “government” and “corporate” law.  Could a person as a guest enter an Orthodox Jewish or Muslim house and demand a pork bacon and sausage breakfast?  Where is the line to be drawn? who is to draw it? —and by what authority?  Airbnb does not have the right to make such laws because it is a corporation that exists by privilege by the grace of the State, and therefore, cannot discriminate—which includes not discriminating against those whose religion forbids homoperversion, fornication, adultery, or race mixing.  Again, it needs to be pointed out that homoperversion is following the very same antichrist trail blazed for it by interracial marriage / multiculturalism.  Both are forbidden and condemned by God; both are the end-stages of the death of any civilization.  The Heaven that they claim to lead to will be revealed to be Hell; even as Anton LaVey [of Jewish-Ukrainian descent] author of the Satanic Bible and high priest of the Church of Satan on his deathbed exclaimed, “Oh my, oh my, what have I done, there is something very wrong... there is something very wrong...”.   Furthermore, an act that is not of a person’s willful consent, free of duress, constraint, and coersion, is not his act.  Yet to merely sign regardless of whether it is true or not sets a standard and pattern of passive compliance, which will only lead to greater unconstitutional, immoral demands.  What about background checks?  Does this company do background checks on its guests, to make sure guests are not convicted criminals, rapists, or pedaphiles, before inviting them into people’s homes...?  I pray this perverse company is sued ouf of existence.  R.A.B.]

What is not defensible is Airbnb expecting the same of its customers. If a customer behaves badly, in a rude, disrespectful manner to his or her hosts and their property, then they should be banned from the service. But by requiring customers to opt-in on a broad anti-discrimination statement as the price for doing business with them, Airbnb is setting up a de facto barrier to participation for religious traditionalists.

The ways around that are

a) to sign it with mental reservation,

b) to sign it as a mere formality, not considering yourself bound by it, or

c) to read the commitment as meaning merely that you will be polite and fair to all, and/or you read it as applying strictly to your interactions with the Airbnb host and other guests — both of which are reasonable asks

The first option strikes me as dishonest, a rationalization. Sure, you can say that you will treat people one way, despite what your think privately. Most people do that anyway. It’s called having manners. It’s called courtesy. If that were all that were being asked by this commitment, that would be one thing. But in the end, holding certain beliefs will require you to treat people differently in some circumstances. The line between what you believe and how you behave at some point converges. Airbnb, for example, believes in non-discrimination. But it believes in it so strongly, and believes in a particular definition of non-discrimination so strongly, that it is now willing to treat people differently — to discriminate — out of obedience to its principles. There is no way to be completely neutral about this.

The second option lacks integrity.

The third might be OK, but it strikes me as fairly legalistic. I don’t think that Airbnb would be satisfied, for example, with its customers being kind and respectful to all, but also opposing allowing transgendered people to use the bathrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms of their preferred gender, in all places. I believe that Airbnb would consider holding that opinion to be a violation of the commitment it asks customers to sign. If that’s true, then orthodox Christians and other social conservatives could not in good conscience sign it.

What do you think?

I still can’t get over how bizarre it is for a business to police its customers like this, not wanting to do business with people who hold the “wrong” views. I’m about to check out from a Courtyard Marriott. What if in the future, hotels like this compelled their customers to sign such a commitment? There would be few places that religious conservatives and others who didn’t accept the LGBT line could stay when they travel. It’s not hard to imagine gay activists in the near future instituting a corporate campaign to get “Fairness Pledges” to be part of the business model of hotels and other businesses. If they succeed, then somebody will need to come up with The Religious Conservativ e Motorist Green Book.

So, let’s get this straight: the state can force a florist to arrange flowers for a same-sex wedding, in violation of her religious beliefs. And if this Airbnb policy is legal, a homestay network can force its customers to affirm certain beliefs to have the ability to purchase its service. Crazy times.

 

Jenny Stokes

CEO / Research Director

Salt Shakers

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e: jenny@saltshakers.org.au   

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These antichrists discriminate against anyone who attempts to exercise the natural and God-given right and COMMAND to discriminate.  It is a self-preservation behavior.  It is a moral command by God.  Discrimination is a Constitutional right—the right to contract (or not contract) is unlimited.  How can they say that they don’t discriminate against Christians if Christians are not allowed to have any rights to their faith?  How can they discriminate against the people and the faith that is responsible for Western civilization itself!  As I wrote in an earlier Rumination, Who has the greater right to be offended?  Whose right not to be discriminated against trumps the others right not to be discriminated against?

It is a shame that the ministry closed.  They did some good work.  I simply thought their logo was a little too limp... this was their logo:

 

 

Unfortunately, it reminds me of the “Tea Party” people, the conservative political movement in the U.S. in recent years... limply waving little tea bags by the strings or even having them tied to their hats.  Oooooh, I am sure the leftists were shaking in their boots...!

This logo and concept shows a lack of understanding the Bible passage as well as the nature of salt.  The function of salt in Bible days was not merely to be a seasoning... salt’s primary function was to preserve meat.  Salt preserves meat because it kills bacteria...!  The True Church is supposed to be on the offensive attacking evil.  Christ said that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against the True Church.  Armies don’t carry the gates of their cities into battle with them.  This means that Hell—and its future citizens—should be under siege, under assault by the True church.  The Church is not to be cowering or hiding...!  It is not to be tolerant or accepting.  OBEY GOD OR DIE.  God does not hear the prayers of those who do not obey Him, and that is why all this Judgment has fallen upon us and those “Christians” who don’t obey God will be exterminated by the invading hordes and the hordes of perverts crawling out of the closet, basement, septic tank, etc.

Here is a graphic I put together that better shows the nature of salt of which Christ spoke...

 

 

Christ said that if the salt has lost... NOT it’s “savour”—it has nothing to do with flavour! ... Christ said that if the salt has lost its SALTINESS (that which makes it salt) ... if the salt has become INSIPID then it is WORTHLESS, it is good for nothing but to be cast into the street and TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT...!  And THAT is what is happening to the Church, the Bride of Christ, God’s children...!  Instead of seeking out the Lost sheep as Christ commanded... they are laying their lives down for the dogs...!  In violation of what Christ commanded.  Clearly they follow a false Christ.  For salt to remain salt it must be SEGREGATED... it must be separated to remain pure, to remain salt.  If it absorbs everything in its environment around it, it is no longer salt, but a “semi-salty contaminated bastard solution”.  “Come out from among them and be ye separate”, God commanded, “and touch [join] not the unclean thing [people] and ye shall [indeed] be My sons and daughters".  The clear inference is the inverse, “if ye do not remain separate and join with the heathen ye are no long My sons and daughters”.

The antichrist enemy—the invading hordes of savages and the hordes of immoral perverts—does not respond to “pretty please”.  The American colonists and the Dutch Voertrekkers did not wave tea bags at the savage American Indians or Xhosa / Zulus.  The Israelites did not shake little salt shakers at the Canaanites...!

Who is on the Lord's side?  You can't please both the world and God.  WHO would you rather be mad at you? 

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4:4)

Choose you this day!