OPINION: Religious Freedom Laws Are About Liberty Not Discrimination
Image (UnSpalsh.com): America undergoes a fiercely debated argument regarding religious freedom and LGBT discrimination.
Caleb Ecarma, News Editor
Across the U.S., a battle is currently being waged over religious rights verses LGBT rights.
While newly passed laws in North Carolina and Mississippi allowing private businesses to refuse service to individuals that contradict their religious beliefs are getting the majority of the press, there are many other states currently involved in this debate.
Earlier this year, Kansas passed a law allowing religious groups on college campuses to restrict membership to others that share the same values and beliefs (including sexual orientation) that they do.
Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia recently vetoed a bill that would have given faith-based organizations the freedom to not allow individuals with contradictory beliefs to work there. The bill would also give these religious organizations the right to refuse to service anyone that does not adhere to their values.
However, after major corporations such as Disney, Apple and the NFL strong-armed Gov. Deal by stating they would boycott or otherwise disenfranchise the state, he rejected the bill.
Tennessee, another state that is currently dealing with this controversy, has a bill that has passed the state senate and would allow therapists and counselors with “sincerely held” religious beliefs to reject clients whose lifestyles contradict those beliefs.
“I can’t express enough how this [bill] is not about discrimination, but designed to prevent discrimination against counselors with strongly held beliefs,” said Republican Sen. Jack Johnson, who sponsored the bill.
While liberals staging boycotts and fits would have you believe these bills are calling for a personal attack against every member of the LGBT community, in reality, they are simply upholding what the Bill of Rights already covers. Allowing individuals to make business decisions based on their religious beliefs is, in essence, what the First Amendment is put in place to protect.
As free Americans, we should not have to put a bill in place to protect our religious liberties in the first place. We should not need legislation to tell us who we can employ, fire or provide services to based on our beliefs. These liberties are already protected by the First Amendment.
These rights are not exclusive to religious individuals. If a business owner who is an atheist chooses to reject a client because he/she is a Christian, the business owner should have the right to do so without government interference.
Private citizens do not have a duty to employ or provide services to anyone they do not want to; they should not have to uphold or justify their private business decisions in court. Simply because you do not like the way someone is exercising his/her freedom, does not mean that you have the right to deny someone of that inherent liberty.
In actuality, “Religious Freedom Restoration” laws have nothing to do with religion. They have everything to do with freedom; a freedom that the constitution protects.
And those who oppose these inherent freedoms, do it in the name of “anti-discrimination.”
Interestingly, “Anti-discrimination” means fining a bakery $135,000 for simply not servicing a same-sex wedding.
“Anti-discrimination” means jailing a country clerk for not issuing gay marriage licenses.
“Anti-discrimination” means shutting down churches who say “no” to gay weddings being performed in their sanctuaries.
“Anti-discrimination” means the Supreme Court refusing to hear a case involving a photographer being fined $7,000 for not wanting to photograph a gay wedding.
These cases clearly demonstrate rampant discrimination being done in the name of “anti-discrimination” – and liberals do not even see the irony.
