The New Exchange » Religious Freedom Bill

Just Fred · 3/31/2015 8:07 am

Here's a hoot from the Onion:

INDIANAPOLIS—Addressing the controversy surrounding his state’s recently signed Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Indiana governor Mike Pence forcefully insisted to reporters Monday that the new law has nothing at all to do with what it was explicitly intended to do. “Let me state directly that in no way is this law designed to allow the kind of anti-gay discrimination that is the law’s single reason for existing,” said Pence, emphasizing that provisions authorizing businesses to refuse service to gay customers were nothing more than the only explanation for the law being drafted in the first place.

“Regardless of the widespread misconceptions surrounding it, I want to reassure Hoosiers of all backgrounds that this law will never be interpreted in the way it was unambiguously designed to be from the very beginning.” Pence further clarified that the act’s sole purpose was in fact to safeguard the free exercise of religion it was in no way whatsoever created to protect.

Last edited by Just Fred (3/31/2015 8:08 am)

tennyson · 3/31/2015 8:12 am

TheLagerLad wrote:
The cover of this mornings Indianapolis Star and thecorresponding editorial

The article unfortunately only points out the problems with the law as pertains to the gay,lesbian communities. The potential for abuse via the law extends well beyond that pervue. The law needs to be junked.

Rongone · 3/31/2015 11:54 am

Note to conservative state legislators throughout the U.S.:

When you have dug yourself into a deep hole --- Quit Digging ! ! !

Looks like Pence is demanding modifications/clarifications on Indiana's bill on his desk immediately, but Arkansas is pressing ahead with theirs:

http://news.yahoo.com/fight-over-religious-objection-proposals-shifts-arkansas-052903117.html

I really like Arkansas' Rep. Ballinger, a sponsor of the bill, attitude:
"If there are questions in two years, we can fix it."
I wonder if he'd accept that answer from a mechanic that sold him a used, high mileage pick-up.

Last edited by Rongone (3/31/2015 11:56 am)

TheLagerLad · 3/31/2015 12:19 pm

I agree with opinion piece in it's totality and echo it's final sentence. Hooray for the free market

Whatever the law actually allows, the outrage it unleashed, over a perceived blank check for bigotry, was overwhelming. And not just from liberal celebrities such as Miley Cyrus or Democratic politicians such as Hillary Clinton. Almost immediately, the Republican chief executive of Angie’s List announced the company was canceling its planned $40 million expansion in Indianapolis. The chief executive of Salesforce said he had canceled all his company’s events in Indiana and advocated a “slow rolling of economic sanctions” against the state. The organizers of Gen Con, the largest conference held each year in Indianapolis , threatened to move it elsewhere. The Indianapolis-based NCAA has said it’s “concerned” about how the law might affect student-athletes, employees and spectators attending Final Four games there this weekend, while some athletes have called for the conference and other sports leagues to avoid hosting events in the state in the future.

Businesses have fought similar laws elsewhere, too, saying they worry that a climate more tolerant of intolerance, either real or perceived, will make it harder to recruit talent, retain customers and attract tourists. An Arizona law along these lines was vetoed last year — by the Republican governor — after business leaders expressed concerns about the potential economic damage. Even Wal-Mart, not exactly known for its liberal values, came out against comparable legislation in its home state, saying it “sends the wrong message about Arkansas.”

This is an astonishing, and inspiring, turn of events. If in Becker’s day firms feared that customers would punish them for inclusiveness, today firms fear customers will instead punish them for exclusiveness. If in the past, to stay competitive and attract the most desirable talent, you needed to be discriminatory, today the opposite may be becoming true. Hooray for markets being on the right side of history.

TheLagerLad · 3/31/2015 8:58 pm

Well played........

The First Church of Cannabis was approved after Indiana’s religious freedom law was passed

The First Church of Cannabis Inc. has been approved by Indiana’s secretary of state after the state’s religious freedom legislation became law last week.

The church’s founder Bill Levin said he filed paperwork in direct response to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law last Thursday. Secretary of State Connie Lawson approved the church as a religious corporation with the stated intent “to start a church based on love and understanding with compassion for all.”

Cannibis is listed as the church’s sacrament in its doctrine, Levin said, and he will set up a church hierarchy. The church will plan to grow hemp, he said, though it will not buy or sell marijuana.

“If someone is smoking in our church, God bless them,” Levin said. “This is a church to show a proper way of life, a loving way to live life. We are called ‘cannataerians.’”

Marijuana is currently illegal in Indiana for both medical and recreational use, so the church could test the application of the new law. RFRA prevents Indiana’s government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion if it can demonstrate that it is the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling governmental interest.

Once the church is established, members will be asked for individual donations of $4.20 a month, Levin said.

Indiana attorney and political commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz wrote that Indiana legislators may have put the state in a position to acknowledge those who profess to smoke pot as a religious sacrament.

“You see, if I would argue that under RFRA, as long as you can show that reefer is part of your religious practices, you got a pretty good shot of getting off scott-free,” he wrote. “Remember, under RFRA, the state has to articulate a compelling interest in preventing you from smoking pot. I argue they can’t.”

TheLagerLad · 4/01/2015 10:11 am

I just wonder how much more of this has to happen before Indiana ditches the RFRA.....

Amazon Latest to Ditch Data Conference to Boycott Indiana

Its slogan may be "Mining Big Data for Big Profits," but if the pressure to boycott Indiana continues gaining steam, the Indy Big Data conference might have trouble turning its own profit. The conference is set to be held next month in Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium.

Now, along with several other data-industry firms, Amazon won't be there. "We are not participating in the conference," a spokeswoman told Ad Age. According to the event site, AWS Database Services Business Development Manager Greg Khairallah, is set to speak about "Agile Big Data Analytics powered by Amazon Web Services."

The spokeswoman continued, "Nobody will present. Our speaker's photo will be gone by the end of the day. They are fielding multiple requests."

Ever since Indiana passed its Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows businesses to refuse services to gay people on religious grounds or refuse to offer health insurance coverage for things like birth control, a nationwide protest against the legislation has been brewing.
Governors of New York, Connecticut and Washington said they would ban state-funded travel of state employees to Indiana. Mayors of New York, San Francisco and Seattle said the same of city-paid travel to Indy.

It's doubtful, of course, that many of those government employees affected had actually planned to visit Indiana, other than maybe for a personal NCAA Final Four game trip.

Some boycotters are putting their money where their mouths are in a way that could actually have an impact, however. Several companies have announced they will boycott the Indy Big Data Conference. Data analytics software makers Cloudera and Pivotal, cloud computing firm EMC Corporation and data analytics firm Platfora have all ducked out of the event.

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TheLagerLad wrote:

3/31/2015 11:54 am #43

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