Legalizing religious discrimination

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (House Bill 5958) passed on a 59-50 party line vote last week in Michigan. It was sponsored by Republican Speaker of the House Jase Bolger.

The act says any individual with a sincerely held religious belief can act on that belief without restraint. Many fear this means a return to putting religion before the law.

According to The Detroit Free Press, Bolger said the act will do none of the horrible things opponents will claim but merely protect people and their beliefs and practice of religion.

Bolger cited several examples of protections, from the baker who doesn't want to provide a wedding cake to same-sex marriage couple to the Jewish mother who doesn't want an autopsy on her son who died in a car crash. Both cited religious beliefs as reasons in their cases.

"This is not a license to discriminate," Bolger told The Detroit Free Press. "People simply want their government to allow them to practice their faith in peace."

I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t heard about this bill. With the exception of The Detroit Free Press, it’s been almost untouched by the local mainstream media.

It’s a pretty important bill you shouldn’t like. For that matter, you should worry about what will happen next if this bill gets through the state Senate and the governor signs it.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was originally signed into law in 1993 by, of all people, former President Bill Clinton. President Clinton signed it into law as a protective act for religious minorities. The Supreme Court held in 1997 that the federal act did not affect states, meaning each state had to pass the act individually (19 states have).

This is a case where well-intentioned legislation has been twisted to advance Republican efforts to put a bit of the church back into state politics.

Here’s how RFRA works, if it becomes law:

• A Catholic hospital could refuse admittance to anyone who needs a procedure that defies the hospital’s religious directives.
• A pharmacist with a sincerely held religious belief could refuse to dispense birth control pills.
• A landlord could evict a gay tenant.

Perhaps the most striking example comes from a staff attorney for the ACLU.

“In many religions, it’s OK for a man to beat his wife,” Brooke Tucker, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, told MSNBC. “Based on the language in this bill, all he has to say is my religion allows me to do this.

We’ve already been through that. The First Amendment was written in part to protect against that.

If you don’t know who your state Senator is, check your voter registration card. It will tell you what district you’re in, and then you can look up your senator on Google. It's time to write him or her a letter, since this act is headed for the state Senate -- right now.

This is a bill that needs to be shot dead in its tracks. If it passes, look for our politicians, many of whom claim to be Christians but really don’t know the meaning of the word, to open the door for more laws to be based on religion.