Editor’s note: Walt Amses is a writer and former educator who lives in Calais.
[W]ith a series of proposals ranging from merely absurd to sublimely idiotic, conservatives across the provinces are stumbling over one another in an adventure of unintended consequences, making possible the Sharia Law they fear so much while rendering their party one step closer to complete irrelevance. “Religious Freedom Restoration” acts in Arkansas and Indiana as well as other states, are designed to rescue God (and homosexual) Fearing Christians from the menace of gay weddings while legislation in Texas may require DNA documentation before using a public restroom.
As the evangelical panic builds in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s expected monumental, and until very recently unimaginable, decision to legalize gay marriage, the implication of another SCOTUS ruling has raised hopes for a theocracy while providing cover for discrimination against the LGBT community. Essentially, in an ideal fundamentalist world, “belief” would triumph over what — up to now — has been the rule of law.
In ruling that “closely held” (limited ownership) corporations can limit women’s health care options based on their (the corporation’s) religious beliefs, the Supremes’ Hobby Lobby decision last summer opened the door for the current extrapolation, into the legal “minefield,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cautioned in her eloquent 36-page dissent. If corporations are people surely florists and photographers are as well, and presumably, they too should be permitted to discriminate as their chosen deity intended.
Every level of our politics is increasingly held hostage by ancient superstition that finds elected officials all too willing to fork over the ransom, placing rationality on hold while pandering to the snake handlers.
Things are bigger in Texas, including blatant stupidity, as the Lone Star State considers a bill that would incarcerate anyone using a restroom “not the same as that person’s gender … established at birth.” Exactly how X and Y chromosomes will be tabulated remains as mysterious as who votes for Louie Gohmert. Not to be out-dumbed, Kentucky would assign the bathroom patrol to students, including a cash bounty each time they “found” a trans classmate in a school restroom and reported them, placing “stool pigeon” in an entirely new context.
As red states from Georgia to Idaho consider similar laws, the response to Indiana Gov. Mike Spence signing the legislation was immediate, robust and as diverse as the bill is divisive. The NCAA (the Final Four was scheduled for Indianapolis), the National Basketball Association, Walmart, Angie’s List and Salesforce (among hundreds of others) came out forcefully against such legislation. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, condemned the bill(s) as “being against the very principles our nation was founded on” in the Washington Post.
In an embarrassing, politician-in-the-headlights defense with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on March 29, Pence awkwardly dodged questions concerning the law’s intent: “Will this law allow discrimination against gay people … yes or no?” his answer was along the lines of “Hoosiers are nice people.” Worse yet, was the governor’s accusation of “intolerance” directed at anyone taking issue with Indiana’s intolerant intentions, and then adding that he would meet with legislators in order to “clarify” any misperceptions.
Pence’s problem of course is that the law’s intention is all too clear, since several such laws were specifically designed to allow discrimination in defiance of any court decisions on gay marriage. In fact, several of those smilingly present at the signing ceremony are noted Christian bigots who have been advocating gay conversion therapy; equating homosexuality with bestiality and adultery; as well as falsely claiming pastors could be jailed for preaching against homosexuality.
As offensive as these laws are to the sensibilities of most rational Americans, they may also create issues in the states where “Religion” and “Christianity” are interchangeable. Since government cannot constitutionally differentiate between religions or select one religion over others, these laws would logically invite adherents of every religion to place their belief system above the law, effectively disenfranchising whomever disagreed, (everyone else), creating chaos in the courtroom and clogging the streets with sacrificial lambs, goats and virgins.
Every level of our politics is increasingly held hostage by ancient superstition that finds elected officials all too willing to fork over the ransom, placing rationality on hold while pandering to the snake handlers. Hopefully, the muscular national response to the Indiana idiocy will send a clear message that real Americans think, and we’ve had it with all the irresponsible “God” talk, the demonizing of our friends and neighbors in the LGBT community, and all the dog-whistle rhetoric aimed at the lowest common denominator among us. Enough!
