Christian Right's 'Religious Freedom' Wants to Elevate Religious Beliefs Above Human Rights

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/conscience-creep-how-religious-freedom-spiraled-out-control




Secular Americans and many liberal people of faith have been horrified by the Right’s most recent ploy: “religious freedom” claims that would give conservative business owners license to discriminate. Until Arizona made the national spotlight, the need for lunch counter sit-ins had seemed like a thing of the past. But in reality, advocates for religious privilege have been circling toward this point for some time.

As a legal and political tactic, Tea Party politicians and conservative church leaders have high hopes for their “religious freedom” push. What they want broadly is a set of cultural and legal agreements that elevate religious beliefs above human rights laws and civic obligations. They hope that securing sacrosanct religious rights for individuals and institutions will let them roll back rights for queers and women. They further hope that playing the religious freedom card will guarantee them access to government contracts and let them proselytize on the public dime.

Here’s the thing: for decades now, this strategy has been working.

To understand what’s going on requires a detour through American history. From the days of the pilgrims onward, the American colonies wrestled with tensions between religious freedom and the responsibilities of civil society. Finding the right balance has never been easy.

[Uben]

1. Religion is all about control.....

....that has been my opinion for the last 30 yrs. Needless to say, I do not participate. I respect your right to believe whatever you want, but don't let it interfere with what I believe. I do believe, just not in the same context as most.

[hobbit709]

2. And ONLY their particular brand of religion.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I wish I could rec this more than once.

It is frightening to me to see how much control many people want to give the church over our constitution. That is, as long as it's their particular brand of religion.

[theHandpuppet]

4. "Freedom" "Liberty" "Patriot"

Every time I hear those words now I become immediately suspicious, and that's pretty damn sad.

[bemildred]

5. Right, belief over law, as long as it's the right belief.

And it requires a good deal of repression to enforce it, as it does indeed open a can of worms when you say what's in your head overrules observation. (We are very good at that, BTW, keeping bullshit compartmentalized so we don't have to see the contradictions in our views. Examples abound here.)

[gollygee]

6. You have to take a step away from reality

to think freedom from discrimination includes freedom to discriminate.

[markpkessinger]

7. No, they're trying to elevate bigotry above human rights

There is, historically speaking, absolutely NOTHING in the Christian faith that requires one to refuse to serve, transact business with or otherwise discriminate against someone based upon what they believe to be to be that person's sin. This is a brand new claim these groups are making that has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity. Even among the most conservative protestant sects, this claim was never previously made (with the possible exception of certain separatist anabaptist sects such as the Amish, Mennonites, etc.) By allowing these folks to claim this as a tenet of the Christian faith, you dignify something that doesn't deserve to be dignified.

[RKP5637]

8. Religion = Politics + Power + Control = Subservience. This is one more step by christian soldiers

to establish a theocracy and the end of America as we know it. Give it a few more years, there will probably be open warfare over this.

[theHandpuppet]

9. Rewrapping bigotry as "religious freedom" started years ago

Although it seems only recently that folks have started to take notice, this mechanism was devised years ago and religious conservatives have been pouring out astounding amounts of money and energy into lobbying and legislation. I'm providing a link to one article here on a single aspect of the "religious freedom" movement:

The Bishops, Obama and Religious Freedom
The Catholic Hierarchy’s Bold New Church-State Lobbying Blitz – And How It Might Affect Your Rights
February 2012
https://www.au.org/church-state/february-2012-church-state/featured/the-bishops-obama-and-religious

[Lady Freedom Returns]

10. Those kind have a learning disability or something!

The Bible is NOT the last word on what is or is not moral!