Legislators in Indiana began well when they passed their Religious Freedom Restoration Act a couple of weeks ago. Like the federal RFRA and RFRA’s in 19 other states, this law protects religious freedom by providing people the right to go to court and challenge a demand to violate their faith in some way. Under RFRA, if society insists on violating someone’s religious liberty, that person or entity can ask for proof that there’s a compelling government interest in doing so.
With RFRA, the religious person gets a legal argument. No guaranteed win in court. Just a shot at protecting his right to do something his religion requires (like wear a beard in prison), or not do something (like assist in an abortion.) That’s what RFRA’s are for.
Because gay marriage is sweeping the land, RFRA’s are needed in states that don’t have them yet. Best-selling author and commentator Ann Coulter writes that all religious freedom laws do is: “Encourage steely-eyed activists to stop requiring every last Christian to celebrate gay marriages.”
So, the Indiana legislators passed one. And the knives came out. The law was spun as a weapon for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Businesses, big ones, like Apple and Walmart threatened to punish. Governor Mike Pence tried to explain the law. Fat chance when the Left owns the mainstream media. There was a lot of heat. And Indiana legislators couldn’t take it.
Legislators, afraid of the economic repercussions, tried to fix their RFRA. Their amendment effectively repeals the original law and worse. Any Christian faced with a decision regarding whether to bow to government dictates or follow their faith is now fair game and left defenseless.
In the 22 years since the federal RFRA was enacted, there have been zero cases in which someone won the right to exclude any LGBT folks from service. What there have been are bakers, florists, photographers and wedding chapels owned by believers who have been discriminated against for holding true to the tenets of their faith. They have lost jobs, businesses, they’ve been fined and some face financial ruin. It all has to do with the spreading redefinition of the holy institution of marriage being imposed, by judicial fiat, upon America. All states need RFRA’s to protect these people who do not want to provide their creative talents and facilities to celebrate the so-called marriages between people of the same sex.
Family Research Council says this battle in Indiana boils down to “freedom and the people vs. government coercion” and points out that “the new law even contemplates the possibility of criminal prosecution for those who decline a same sex ceremony.”
It’s not just Indiana. This intimidation reached the deep South. Arkansas was about to pass a RFRA. Governor Asa Hutchinson did an about face and they “fixed” it. Believing saint, understand that now, in America, sexual liberty trumps religious liberty.
http://ncfr.net/ncfr.net/subdomains/commentary/Downloads/Penna_Dexter/Penna-04-10-2015.mp3
