Religious Freedom Restoration: A Veiled Agenda
In honor of June being Pride Month, i've decided to pour my thoughts out on a subject that has firmly been in my mind for some time. The first time I remember seeing the revival of religious freedom was in March of 2015. I remember waking up one morning, eating breakfast and checking my laptop. The bolded headline on my screen read ''Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by Governor Mike Pence.'' My immediate feeling: a profound sense of confusion. It overwhelmed me. I'll admit, I was a little naive about what 'religious freedom restoration' meant. Seconds after reading the headline I contemplated as to what it might mean. ''Religious freedom, we definitely have that. It's guarded in one of our most heavily defended amendments.'' It was the term restoration that caused the confusion within me. I was beside myself wondering if its meaning was on its face. That it meant to restore religious freedom. Then again, how can a nation restore freedom of religion when after 220 years of the signing of our Declaration of Independence, we've yet to master the successful, and intended, implementation of separation of church and state? That the invasive roots of Christianity still bury deep in the creation of our nation's laws. Corrupting our founder's wisdom and hopes for a citizen to never be subjected to the constraints of a religion not their own. For when in America, our laws, and the citizens they seek to protect, still struggle to unshackle themselves from the Christian faith. In the days that followed that headline, the veil would be lifted. The veil of discrimination.
Among the most obvious signs of this discrimination is the modern era's lack of attraction to Christian-influenced laws. While we all know the influences of Christianity within our laws since the beginning of our nation's founding, it hasn't been until the mid 20th century when they'd be challenged. Each generation has done its part. The Baby Boomers discarded with religious objections for racial segregation. Their children uprooted the ignorant judicial custom of swearing on the bible. The Millennials departed from the label of ''one nation under god'' during the pledge of allegiance. Now Gen Z, an era of beings who challenge injustice at every turn, will take the stage. These consecutive generational waves of equality has turned the mouthes of Christian-fanatics sour. At last it has reached a breaking point in our time. Christian fanatics have been so spoiled with laws cradled by their faith's core values, they believe it's the only way laws should be. This is the naive mentality that has triggered a deepening wave of Religious Freedom Restoration Laws. When you've been privileged your whole life in the eyes of the law, judicial equality must feel like a call to arms. Another crusade. A crusade that has no option but to succeed.
A second and related sign of this veiled discrimination is the quest to protect one's privilege. At the heart of the debate between religious freedom and civil rights lies many Christians who undoubtedly know of their raised status in the eyes of the law. This has only provided another reason to fight tooth and nail within the courts. It's not necessarily difficult to understand. After all, isn't this the same course most within a privileged class would embrace? We've certainly seen it with groups of race and social-economic standing. In fact, we see this desire to protect privileged standing in almost every facet of society. While the fight to bring equity to these areas of life is long and hard, the understanding behind is pretty transparent. Life throws challenges in everyone's way in one form or another. When you find yourself comforted by special treatment for nothing in return, you naturally want it to remain so. Once a threat compromises that unearned privilege, those who benefit the most instinctively bark back. This is due to a misplaced sense of security and entitlement.
Third and indisputably the most personal sign of this agenda, is a license to discriminate against the most targeted group of Christianity, if not religion in general: LGBT. Although we aren't just discussing a driver's license. No, this is a federal law. A regulation in which all that fall under its jurisdiction must abide. Should this ever whole-heartedly fall in favor of Religious Freedom, it becomes a religious bigot's wet dream. Guaranteed promise of legal exemption from discrimination lawsuits and damnations of unfair business practices. It's the perfect antidote for those who seek to weaponize their faith into a repellent for communities they deem immoral or undeserving. This is the exact case that occurred in the state of Indiana in March 2015. The state was under the governorship of perhaps one of the most naive bigots within VP history, Mike Pence. It was in March that he signed the state's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I first saw the elk of this license to discriminate just days after the bill was implemented. It was yet another headline, but this time it came with a photo. ''No Gays Allowed'' was marked on a large piece of cardboard. It hung in front of a display window in a popular pizzeria in an Indiana town. I was amazed. A single stroke of a pen, and an entire town was transported back into the 1950's. Days following that viral post, others arose depicting similar hate and blatant discrimination. It got even more attention. Multiple national corporations and known companies halted business plans to expand into Indiana, along with offers to transport employees out of state if they desired. Just one week after, Mike Pence amended the bill after vehemently vowing not to altar it. Seems as though blind hatred and a weak spine can only stand straight for so long.
This the true face of Religious Freedom Restoration laws, and this is why in 2018 we still struggle to separate Church and State. These laws not only encourage an assault on protected civil rights that have been hard fought for decades, but seek to establish a legal precedent in which to openly discriminate. Should the day come where legal exemptions are given to religious fanatics and their ''religious freedom'', comes the day where anyone can be imprisoned by the religious beliefs of another.
