Congratulations, you’ve reached the ten thousandth blog, column, or article written about Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It is, after all, the issue most in vogue this week.
The Hoosier State’s governor, Mike Pence, just signed into law a bill that allows business owners the right to, among other things, refuse service to anyone on personal religious grounds. Religion, of course, being used in this case as a shield to protect homophobes.
Many are understandably horrified and outraged. Many universities, including Indiana University and Butler University, issued statements condemning the law. The owners of many restaurants and shops issued statements about their willingness to serve anyone and everyone. Even the NCAA has promised that Indiana will not host another national tournament game until this law is repealed. Certain LGBT rights groups are compiling lists of business that are friendly or hostile to their rights or, as I prefer to think of it, rights in general.
If the attention has been a little overwhelming, don’t worry. By June, we will have moved on to another issue to stand up for. We will be dumping cold water on our heads for some illness, using a hashtag about the value of some cause, pitching tents in some public space. Whatever it is, we’ll go back to eating our chicken sandwiches, cooking whatever pasta is cheapest, and buying our craft supply at the closest opportunity.
Or…
We could make a conscious choice. We can change the way we live on a day to day basis. We can use our wallets to speak as loud as any law that the state congress can pass.
We could go to any restaurant, order whatever we want, and leave, hoping that nobody notices our sexual orientation in either direction, and hiding behind our ability to go about our lives while taking advantage of our privilege. We can eat at Chik-fil-A, despite our issues with it morally, because, c’mon, it’s just a Chicken Sandwich. Ok, a really good chicken sandwich, but still.
Or…
We could start every business transaction with a question, asking for management to clarify whether or not they share our values. We can demand that, to take my hard-earned money, you have to prove that you are a decent human being.
We can let a radically Christian right continue to use the defense of “religious freedom” to defend their bigoted and narrow-minded ideals, all the while hijacking religion and spirituality along the way.
Or…
We can stand up as people of faith and acknowledge that no God we believe in requires discrimination. We can demand that the biblical interpretation be done correctly, and that we hold people accountable to reading one sentence out of context while ignoring the rest of the passage (anyone who has ever had an affair should be turned away just as brutally as a gay person, according to Leviticus). Religion should be a tool of compassion, caring, and striving for goodness. But that only works if we make it happen that way.
A few weeks will go by, and we will be tested. We will have to determine just how much we care about this issue, or any issue, how much we want to make our voices heard. As the ink dries from the bill, and we begin to look forward to the many other issues that face our nation, we will have the opportunity to decide what this really means to us.
If you believe in the law and what it stands for, that’s fine. I’m not going to fault you for supporting something you believe in. But, if you find this law abhorrent and damaging to the success of our country and choose not to do anything about it, well, goodness, I don’t even want your support.
We can allow the RFRA to fade into bored reality as times goes by. We can let our attention continue on to the next issue, the next cause, the next fight.
Or...We can change the way we change the world.
If you enjoy the work of the Zoot Perspective, please visit my GoFundMe page, to help support me on my journey. Thank you very much.
No comments:
Post a Comment