Saturday, January 31, 2015

“Religious Freedom Restoration Act" Amok



a major award                                                 









TRUTH ALA CARTE



Hostility to Tradition

In the nineties, the Clinton Administration formed a bipartisan coalition to pass the federal “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” or “RFRA.” Nineteen states followed suit. The legislation came in response to a Supreme Court decision that had seen an American Indian suffer legally for having used a drug during a well established American Indian religious ceremony.

Religious freedom is enshrined in the first amendment to the American constitution. The American left, increasingly hostile to any values, has made a decision to impose their lack of values on America. Dissent was patriotic when George Bush was President. Now that the left feels completely in control all dissent must be stamped out ruthlessly.
RFRA’s framework was common sense. “Under RFRA the government may not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion unless it can demonstrate that the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest, and it is the least restrictive means of advancing a compelling interest.” See Perez v. Paragon Contractors (2014, Dist. Ct. Utah).

The standard was hailed as fair and appropriate by Democrats and by Republicans. Nineteen states followed the federal government. From Connecticut to Florida to Arizona, states found a bipartisan consensus that the sincerely held faith based beliefs of individuals deserved encroachment from the federal government.

This bipartisan consensus has rapidly collapsed in the United States. It began with Hobby Lobby. The company is a closely held corporation run by a family. The family intended to run its business based on its Christian values. The employees are paid more than employees at competitors. The store hours are not as long so employees can go home to their families. The store closes on Sundays to honor the Sabbath and give employees a day off.

But Hobby Lobby also designs its healthcare plans to reflect its values. It covers birth control for female employees, but its health care plan would not cover the costs of drugs classified as abortifacients, or drugs that induce an abortion. It would not cover the cost of abortions.

The Obama Administration ordered the company to do so and then, as a compromise, ordered the company to give money to other organizations that would then provide the abortifacients. Hobby Lobby sued and won in the United States Supreme Court. The Court held that under RFRA, the Obama Administration had already shown through various exemptions and alternatives that it had not used the least restrictive means to accomplish its goals.

Where RFRA once had bipartisan support, it is now opposed by the left. Compounding the problem is the march for gay marriage. In multiple states around the country, gay activists have tried to force Christian bakers, florists, photographers, wedding planners, and others to provide goods and services against their religious convictions to gay weddings. In states without RFRA, the Christians who have refused have been dragged before courts and punished. Some will be driven from business.

Liberals were happy with religious conviction when it allowed drug use.  [continue]

“Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish.” ― Stephanie Ericsson



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We have devolved to the point where indentifiable groups have rights but business is a government granted privilege. My favorite bumper sticker 'Make welfare as hard to get as a building permit'.
Tim

iri said...

By 2000 Most Citizens Of Western Civilization Are Fools
Our civilization has been declining since the late Eighteenth century (see "A Study Of History" by Professor Arnold Toynbee), which means that since then the majority of citizens of western civilization have been selfish — for selfishness is the influence that rejects moral restraint, along with its associated beliefs. In place of the guide of tradition the selfish rely upon feelings to recognise right from wrong and fact from fancy. Now, after more than two centuries of discarding and reversing traditions, most citizens are fools who can neither tell right from wrong nor fact from fancy.

Phillip Atkinson - smart dude and my go-to guy when I want to feel extra good about the future of our country.

Anonymous said...

The only problem with Hobby Lobby's arguments was that the drugs they objected to are not abortifacients.

But never let facts get in the way of beliefs.
.

Anonymous said...

No, the problem is that in 50 years or so we have gone from forcing business to serve blacks to accepting that government makes ALL decisions concerning said business.
Tim

Anonymous said...

Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better.

When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.

-- Theodore Dalrymple

[e~C]

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Brilliant find!

Here's a gold sticker for your forehead e~C.

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