The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is a hot-button issue that has grabbed headlines nationwide. The main street media smells red meat and they have targeted their prey – republicans. They have vehemently ostracized Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) since he signed the Religious Freedom bill into law.
Nineteen other states already have this law in effect and that didn’t seem to arouse any attention. Arkansas is in the midst of passing their version of religious protection. The governors of both Indiana and Arkansas have stated that the literature of the controversial law will be changed.
In 1993, then-Congressman Chuck Schumer (NY-D) introduced the RFRA bill to President Bill Clinton. He expeditiously signed the federal RFRA bill into law. Bubba was heralded as a religious freedom fighter and the majority of Americans applauded the law.
President Obama voted for the law when he was an Illinois state senator. Attorney General Eric Holder thoroughly vetted the law and found no discriminatory literature within the substantive context. The decedent Senator Ted Kennedy had ardently defended the law.
Why is the RFRA suddenly a major issue? Unequivocally the 2016 presidential election is culpable. The punctiliousness of political positioning is well under way. Democrats want to label all republicans as homophobes and bigots. Republicans are calling democrats duplicitous opportunists.
The difference between the federal law and the Indiana law is that in Indiana, a for-profit business can be considered a person, just as the Supreme Court ruled on the Hobby Lobby case. Their religious freedom was protected and they were not forced to supply contraceptives to employees – Catholics do not believe in contraceptives.
Restaurants cannot turn a gay person away because they are gay. That is clearly a discriminatory action and will not lawfully be tolerated. However, a Muslim-owned catering company does not have to cater a gay wedding. Muslims do not believe in gay marriage because of their religious credence.
In Walkerton Indiana, “Memories Pizza” was forced to shut down due to hate threats. Owner Crystal O’Conner was baited into making a statement in an interview for local TV. The pizzeria was well known for its religious mementos displayed throughout the restaurant. This shop was targeted for that reason.
Chrystal was asked about catering a gay wedding and said that they would not because of their religious belief. They have never catered a wedding, and who would ever serve pizza at their wedding? In journalism, this is a non-story. Nothing had happened and nothing was about to happen.
Threatening phone calls ensued, they were called bigots and haters, they received vicious attacks on social media, and they were forced to close their shop due to death threats. In this scenario, who is the intolerant party? The reporter’s question was a fictitious scenario yet the volatile hatred spewed out relentlessly.
The cognitive context in the Indiana law will be rewritten in a more easily understandable and diverse manner, but it is all about religious freedom and nothing more. The consensus from the far-left is that gay and lesbian civil rights are in jeopardy. Catholics, Jews, and Muslims will have to stop believing what Catholics, Jews, and Muslims have believed for centuries.
Conversely, if Catholics and Jews told gays to stop being gay to solve the problem, there would be pandemonium and mayhem in the streets. All Americans deserve civil rights and fair treatment. It should not be carried out by forcing one group of people to change their way of life, and change their thinking because of another groups’ feelings.
I am not Catholic, and I could not be more indifferent about same-sex marriage. I do believe that everyone should be treated like human beings. Isn’t that what any God would want? Having sifted through all the fecklessness of political talking points, discriminatory behavior should not be legal anywhere. If it does exist, you can be sure of legal action and the media will vociferously share it with the world.
A very wise man once said, “Can we all just get along?” – Rodney King
