Let Us Pray

What can you say in defense of Indiana? I confess that I haven't had a lot of awful things to say, mostly because one of my sentimental favorite movies of all time hails from the Hoosier State: "Breaking Away." My favorite author, and why isn't Kurt Vonnegut Jr. everyone's favorite author, hails from Indianapolis. Okay, maybe the specter of trouble illuminated by the supposedly fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana should have given me a clue, but that was a TV show. How could people be that narrow-minded and stupid in real life?
Welcome to the land of Religious Freedom, Restored. Governor Mike Pence signed the bill into Indiana state law last week, and assured us all that if he thought that it legalized discrimination he would have vetoed it. He didn't. He signed it. The new law prohibits state or local governments from substantially burdening a person's ability to exercise their religion — unless the government can show that it has a compelling interest and that the action is the least-restrictive means of achieving it. Some people have suggested, in spite of Governor Mike's assurances, that this new law will not just protect Hoosiers' right to practice the religion of their choice, but it is a way to legitimize denial of services to the LGBT community. If a bakery decides that they don't want to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, they can't be sued. Sounds like protection, right? Depends on how slippery that slope is. Scientology, for example, is a religion. What would happen if the bakers wouldn't bake a cake for anyone who wasn't "clear?" Ultimately, it could be argued, that those bakers in Bloomington wouldn't stay in business very long if they served only the enlightened. Unless they happen to have a very large but unenlightened bank account. And Eighth Dynamic help you if you happen to run into a racist homophobic Scientologist. Not only are you not getting your cake, you're probably going to be ushered out the door. In the name of religious freedom. 
It should be pointed out that the oppressed in this circumstance are Christian Conservatives who don't want the government to force them to deal with all that non-Christian Conservative behavior found in the LGBT community. It should also be noted that there are nineteen states with Religious Freedom Restoration Acts on their books. And there is a Federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by then President and presumptive First Husband Bill Clinton. Religious Freedom? That's in the Constitution. Legitimized prejudice? Well, how does a bill become a law? What do we do when we need protection from those laws? Pray.