I just explained this to a liberal friend in an email. This is why the law is necessary
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was written by Chuck Schumer and was signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1993, after almost unanimous support from Congress. Why? Because Scalia had written an opinion that essentially outlawed the use of Peyote by Native Americans who had used it as part of their religious ceremonies since forever. So, that's where the law came from, to PREVENT discrimination against people with strongly held religious views.
However, the Supreme Court later determined that the law did NOT apply to states or localities. So, to correct that situation and give states the same religious protections available to Federal lands, the RFRA was enacted by something like 20 states, and another 10 or 15 enacted similar protections under a different name.
So, that's how we got where we are. There was a legitimate concern by Schumer and Clinton, they fixed it, the Supreme Court unfixed it, and the states fixed it again.
The law has been cited by ACLU and by Florida prisoners who were denied Kosher meals. It has been used time and again to sustain the religious rights of people whose religious views may be different from mine or yours, but most importantly that may be different from people who are TRYING TO CONTROL THEM.
So, this is NOT a case of Republicans trying to give government MORE control: It is a case of Republicans trying to insure the rights that we are ALL guaranteed under the Constitution.
It is not some willy-nilly effort to deny gays THEIR rights; but it is an acknowledgement that all Americans are entitled to absolute religious freedom. First and foremost. That it may interfere with the rights of someone else may be a bad thing; but unless there is some way to have it both ways, I really can't say political correctness is a righteous outcome in this instance.
It seems to me a lot of people are going off half-cocked on this issue. |
