RFRA: The Morning After...

I took a bit of a social media break last night, mainly because I was exhausted from all the anger and frustration from my fellow Hoosiers on Facebook.  Plus, as the story began to pick up steam, I was seeing reactions from people all over the country and the world.  I do not know if I would label it embarrassment, but it is certainly difficult to be the subject of derision and jokes.

While mainlining episodes of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, I did try to analyze my thoughts on the repercussions of the day.  From the reaction of local business owners, at least in Indianapolis, I cannot believe there was a very large contingent of people who were calling for this bill.  For most, the bottom line is the bottom line, money is money, and the only one I have seen crowing about it is some obscure asphalt guy, which I think we can all agree is a pretty niche market.  The fact that this bill is being pushed by religious rights groups, mainly due to the story about the Oregon Baker being sued for refusing to make a wedding cake for gay couple is pretty galling considering the damage that has been done to the state's reputation.  The amount of business lost in Indianapolis, which relies heavily on convention traffic, is going to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if the boycotts hold weight.  Is all of this worth that?

I will admit to be a little mushy on the notion that a business should be forced to do something they do not want to do.  However, I take umbrage at the notion that a business is a religious institution based upon the owners beliefs.  Unfortunately, the Supreme Court disagrees in such cases as Hobby Lobby wishing to not provide coverage for birth control. Putting aside the LGBT implications of this bill, does this now mean that an owner can fire someone for not practicing their religion or following their beliefs?  If an owner is specifically anti-Semitic, will it now be okay to refuse to cater to Jews?  It is just an incredibly muddled thing.  Why was this needed?  How can it be justified in the face of lost revenue and jobs?  These are just some of the questions to figure out as we move forward.

For me, I believe we are all equal in the eyes of the law.  Do what you want, love who you want, pray how you want, etc.  However, there has to be a line where your beliefs do not start to be used against other people.  We all pay taxes.  To open a business, you must have government permits, and in essence, you are entering into a contract with the government.  You are serving the public, and the public is not just the narrow group of people who think like you do. Taxes pay for the roads that bring customers, sidewalks, police to protect you, and in exchange for this, we the people expect you not to be a dick to us.  Your religion is not a part of that social contract.  You can be a bigot in your home and in your church, but if you do not want to serve a certain group of people, then maybe you should think about doing something else with your life.

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Side note:  Below is the official picture sent out by the Pence Administration.  As someone who is pretty cognizant of social media and public relations, I just cannot believe anyone thought this was a good idea. It looks medieval.

In fact, I just realized it reminded me of The Spanish Inquisition segment from The History of the World, Part 1: