{"id":3214,"date":"2015-03-30T16:34:20","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T20:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/revangelical\/?p=3214"},"modified":"2015-03-30T16:46:31","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T20:46:31","slug":"to-the-point-the-facts-about-indianas-rfra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/revangelical\/2015\/03\/30\/to-the-point-the-facts-about-indianas-rfra.html","title":{"rendered":"To The Point: The Facts About Indiana’s RFRA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The national debate surrounding Indiana\u2019s Religious Freedom Restoration Act is enough to disorient even the most \"RFRA_Statehouse_March_16_2015\"<\/a>experienced political analyst.\u00a0There is a constant back and forth between opponents and proponents of the bill claiming that the RFRA in Indiana will\/will not open the door for anyone to discriminate against LGBTQ people on the basis of their \u201creligious convictions\u201d.<\/p>\n

If you were to read the actual bill that was passed in Indiana, you\u2019d probably walk away with even more confusion.\u00a0But when it comes down to the bear basics, what\u2019s the truth here.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0does\u00a0<\/em>Indiana\u2019s RFRA\u00a0actually\u00a0<\/em>do?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll do my best to distill all of the information and opinions floating around out there into a few, clear\u00a0points.<\/p>\n

To start off, we should ask: does Indiana\u2019s RFRA actually legislate discrimination of LGBTQ people?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

No, it doesn\u2019t.<\/strong> At least, not explicitly in the bill itself. Indiana\u2019s RFRA does<\/strong> however provide a legal defense for individuals and<\/strong> businesses (which are defined as \u201cpersons\u201d in the RFRA) to deny service (i.e. discriminate) to any LGBTQ person based on \u201csubstantial burden\u201d on their \u201creligious convictions.\u201d Here\u2019s what the RFRA actually says:<\/p>\n

On\u00a0businesses\u00a0being defined as \u201cPersons\u201d:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAs used in this chapter, \u201cperson\u201d<\/strong> includes the following: (1) An individual.<\/strong> (2) An organization<\/strong>, a religious society, a church, a body of communicants, or a group organized and operated primarily for religious purposes. (3) A partnership, a limited liability company, a corporation<\/strong>, a company, a firm, a society, a joint-stock company, an\u00a0unincorporated association, or another entity that: (A) may sue and be sued; and\u00a0(B)\u00a0exercises\u00a0practices that are compelled or limited by a system of religious belief held by: (i) an individual; or (ii) the individuals; who have control and substantial ownership of the entity, regardless of whether the entity is organized and operated for profit or nonprofit purposes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, a business is able to defend itself against discrimination charges by appealing to \u201creligious beliefs\u201d, whether or not the\u00a0business is a \u201creligious\u201d organization.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

On being substantially burdened:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened<\/strong>, or is likely<\/strong> to be substantially burdened<\/strong>, by a violation of this chapter may assert the violation or impending violation\u00a0as a claim or defense<\/strong>\u00a0in a judicial or administrative proceeding\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, if any\u00a0business owner feels that providing a for-profit service to any person that they disagree with\u00a0is a \u201csubstantial burden\u201d to their \u201creligious beliefs\u201d, they may appeal to and be protected by RFRA.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, defenders of RFRA are quick to point out that in the other 19 states, RFRA has never successfully been used in defense of discrimination of LGBTQ people.<\/em><\/p>\n

And they would be right.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The difference here is that in Indiana, there are\u00a0no\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>statewide laws that defend LGBTQ people as a \u201cprotected class\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, that language is likely to be confusing to some.<\/p>\n

A protected class is simply an identifying characteristic of a person that is protected from being grounds for discrimination. Our Federal law protects race, color, religion, gender, national origin and many other aspects of an individual as protected classes, and many states have added sexual orientation to ensure that no one can be discriminated based on their sexuality.<\/em><\/p>\n

But in Indiana, this is not the case.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In fact, Indiana Governor Mike Pence has explicitly stated that he\u00a0will not\u00a0<\/em>make sexuality a protected class. In an interview with the Indianapolis Star<\/a>, Gov. Pence said making sexual orientation a protected class was\u00a0\u201cnot on his agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interesting, isn\u2019t it, that the Governor who swears that RFRA is not going to be used to discriminate against LGBTQ people won\u2019t take the\u00a0one step that\u2019s needed\u00a0<\/em>to ensure that RFRA\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0<\/em>be used to discriminate against LGBTQ people in Indiana.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If sexual orientation and gender identity were listed as protected classes, this would ultimately mean that anyone appealing RFRA to justify not serving an LGBTQ person would face an uphill battle. It would make it increasingly difficult\u00a0to appeal to religious beliefs as a credible basis for denying service to someone based on their sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

In essence, it\u2019d put to bed all of the accusations that the real intention behind RFRA is discrimination.<\/p>\n

But the Governor doesn\u2019t seem interested in doing that.<\/p>\n

So, in light of these facts, let me again\u00a0state that though the text of RFRA itself does not talk about LGBTQ people, it seems clear that the agenda of Gov. Pence is to make room for business owners to refuse service to LGBTQ people based on their religious convictions.<\/p>\n

If that were not the case, then Gov. Pence would make sexual orientation a protected class.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s made it clear that protecting LGBTQ Hoosiers from discrimination is \u201cnot on his agenda<\/em>\u201d right now.<\/p>\n

Then what\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>on his agenda, we might ask?<\/p>\n

The answer seems simple.<\/p>\n

Discrimination.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The national debate surrounding Indiana\u2019s Religious Freedom Restoration Act is enough to disorient even the most experienced political analyst.\u00a0There is a constant back and forth between opponents and proponents of the bill claiming that the RFRA in Indiana will\/will not open the door for anyone to discriminate against LGBTQ people on the basis of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-response","category-revangelicalbettertomorrow"],"yoast_head":"\nTo The Point: The Facts About Indiana's RFRA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The national debate surrounding Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act is enough to disorient even the most experienced political 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