GOP’s “religious freedom” riot: How a bigoted Indiana law could roil GOP primary

[DonViejo]

Ted Cruz will love Mike Pence's new law protecting anti-gay discrimination -- but here's why Jeb and Rand may not

SIMON MALOY

The rapid realignment of public and judicial opinion over the last decade toward gay rights has embroiled the Christian right in an existential crisis. That’s the way they see it, at least, which is why they’re framing the advance of gay rights in America as an assault on “religious freedom” generally, and Christianity specifically. It’s a bogus argument – the religious freedoms of Christian conservatives are not and never have been dependent upon the denial of rights to gay people – but the cause is being championed by conservatives in state governments who have moved to pass laws protecting discrimination against gays as an expression of “religious freedom.”

One of those conservatives is Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law yesterday. The law will allow business owners who refuse to provide services to gay people to cite their religious beliefs in their own defense if they end up getting sued. The idea here is to broaden the notion of what the government should consider to be an expression of faith to include the exchange of money for goods and services. Even worse, this law and others like it are written very broadly and could allow for all manner of discriminatory behavior.

As you might imagine, the Indiana law is extraordinarily controversial. Paul Waldman, writing at the Washington Post, notes that the controversy over the law could very easily spill over into the 2016 Republican presidential nominating contest:

The more news this Indiana law gets, the more likely it is that it will become an issue in the presidential primaries. And it fits neatly within the key divide among Republicans: on one side you could have business groups that are nervous about negative economic impacts and strategists who don’t want the GOP to be known as the party of discrimination, while on the other side you have candidates eager for the votes of religious right primary voters.

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http://www.salon.com/2015/03/27/gops_religious_freedom_riot_how_a_bigoted_indiana_law_could_roil_gop_primary/

[jberryhill]

1. This is a real head-scratcher

The people who are concerned about the use of "Sharia Law" as a defense to civil law, have now enshrined Sharia Law as a defense to civil law.

These people are right out of their minds.

[Trillo]

2. It's some kind of legislative cognitive dissonance.

They don't understand "Sharia Law" as applying to their own actions, they only see the projection of it in "the other." It even explains Pence's statement after he signed it of Indiana as a hospitable and good people.

[napkinz]

3. ...

[napkinz]

4. kick

nt