Paul Fletcher, The Daily Record Newswire
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence put the Hoosier state in a world of hurt last month when he signed the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act."
The reason: This law puts a world of hurt on anyone who is lesbian or gay, or bisexual, or transgender. It allows state-sanctioned discrimination, based on the "exercise of religion."
The backlash has been quick and brutal. Indiana has become a pariah and a punchline. Boycotts have been threatened. Businesses and local Chambers of Commerce have hammered the governor and the legislature, asking just what were they thinking.
"What's the big deal?" proponents responded. There are 19 other states with RFRAs. The federal government has one; Chuck Shumer introduced it and Bill Clinton signed it in 1993.
This dishonest argument is easily dispensed with. Shumer's bill was designed to prevent the government from stepping on the rights of certain Native American tribes. The Indiana law has two "religious freedom" provisions that set it apart from the federal law and those of most other states.
Corporations or businesses can invoke religious freedom. How does a business have religious beliefs? It adopts those of its owners.
And it can be used as a defense in any judicial proceeding in which the government is not involved, i.e., a private lawsuit.
Some proponents of the law have claimed high and low that this is a religious liberty issue: a Christian-based business that, as an article of faith, believes homosexuality is a grievous sin should not be forced to serve a gay couple.
This is pretty clearly a response to a series of legal proceedings that have underscored laws against discrimination and sanctioned those who deny services in the name of faith. A bakery in Colorado couldn't refuse to put two grooms on a wedding cake. A florist in Washington state couldn't reject the business of two men for a gay wedding.
We'll leave the religious argument to the ministers (although it's worth noting that several took to the Internet to observe that Jesus sought to serve everyone and believed no person should be turned away from the table).
Courts have ruled over and over that businesses are public accommodations and must observe the laws against discrimination, whether federal or local. Some states and cities have local laws barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. Indiana does not have a statewide law, although a number of its cities, including Indianapolis, do.
The Indiana RFRA is almost identical to the one passed by the Arizona legislature last year; that state's governor, a conservative Republican, vetoed it.
This RFRA is almost identical to the one passed by the Arkansas legislature just last week; that state's governor, a conservative Republican who initially supported the measure, wants changes to insure it doesn't sanction discrimination.
At press time, Pence and Indiana legislators were backpedaling at warp speed to "fix" the Indiana RFRA. It's hard to see how one fixes a discriminatory law without neutering it.
There is some rich irony at work here, though. As noted above, Indiana currently does not have statewide protections based on sexual orientation. Through the overreach of the RFRA and the resulting backlash, Indiana could end up, for the first time, with some protections for LGBT Hoosiers written into the state's law.
There are similar measures pending in other states throughout the country. Anyone wanting to understand "religious freedom" would do well to look at the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, one of the oldest such laws and, for many, a beacon to the world.
Virginia Code § 57-1 states, "No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities."
It further declares that religious freedom is one of "the natural rights of mankind."
The author? Thomas Jefferson. The date of adoption? 1786.
Jefferson wanted three accomplishments mentioned on his tombstone. His authorship of this law was one of them.
The Virginia Statute is a statement that clearly sets the relationship between citizen and government, establishing that the state can neither compel nor restrain religious belief.
The Statute does not speak of the relationship of citizen to citizen. It certainly does not provide that one can use "religious freedom" as a cudgel to demean, degrade, reject or refuse another person.
Because religious freedom is not a license to discriminate.
Published: Fri, Apr 10, 2015
