The media writes, but does it read? Too few seem to, based on the coverage of Mississippi’s new religious liberty law. After Governor Phil Bryant (R-Miss.) signed a bill that essentially reaffirmed the First Amendment, headlines across the country screamed that Mississippi had just given Americans a “license to discriminate.” “Mississippi governor signs law allowing businesses to deny service to gay people,” some read — regardless of the fact that the measure does no such thing!
Governor Bryant, like the 20 states with religious liberty laws before him, didn’t create a new “religious right” for businesses to turn people away. No believer I know would want that, let alone lobby for it. Despite what the Left would have you think, this debate isn’t about Christians discriminating against anyone — it’s about stopping the government from discriminating against them!
All that Mississippi leaders have done is make sure that the state can’t punish, fine, fire, or block someone from a government work for believing in natural marriage. The Left lies about what the bill does because they know if people knew the truth, they’d probably support it! And a level playing field — the same one they used to demand for their own values — is not what they want for men and women of faith. Forced acceptance is.
27 comments
"Governor Bryant, like the 20 states with religious liberty laws before him, didn’t create a new “religious right” for businesses to turn people away."
There is already a Religious Right for that.
He does, of course, lie.
The law would enable people to refuse service to people married under different religions or civilly, refuse service to divorcees and remarried people, refuse service to people who "fornicated" before marriage.
And the precedent set by Kim Il-Davis will force you to accept it.
If Bruce Springsteen can't, the SCOTUS certainly will.
This is what happens when you try to sit on these Paulists and call them on their insanity. They go feral.
So what happens if person A decides to cherry-pick to whom they refuse service? Sell to a prostitute, but deny service to a Gay, go to jail for discrimination because you sanctimonious religious sensibilities say you should deny both.
For that matter, go ahead, let everyone know what kind of asshole you are. We have the Internet. You will be cutting your own throat.
"After Governor Phil Bryant (R-Miss.) signed a bill that essentially reaffirmed the First Amendment..."
If that's all it did, then it's not required. See Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution.
I just read Mississippi HB 1523, so I can say with utter conviction that Perkins is a lying sack of shit.
This isn't a matter for honest debate. The purpose of the law, the ONLY purpose of the law, is to make it legal to discriminate, in defiance of any of the principles of a modern, open, pluralistic society. Nobody is being fooled by your rhetoric, on either side of the issue. The Christians know damn well what the law is supposed to do, but do not have the honesty to say so.
All that Mississippi leaders have done is make sure that the state can’t punish, fine, fire, or block someone from a government work for believing in natural marriage.
Back in the 60's (and probably now too) that would have read: "All that Mississippi leaders have done is make sure that the state can’t punish, fine, fire, or block someone from a government work for believing in the supremacy and purity of the white race."
"didn’t create a new “religious right” for businesses to turn people away. No believer I know would want that, let alone lobby for it."
The legislation, HB 1523, promises that the state government will not punish people who refuse to provide services to people because of a religious opposition to same-sex marriage, extramarital sex or transgender people. How is that not creating a right for businesses to turn people away?
Yo; Tony! Federal trumps State! If your silly law goes against a Federal precedent (like same-sex marriage) it won't go anywhere and the businesses that serve EVERYONE will toot their horns and get all the business!
So you and those dorks in Mississippi have passed a silly load of nothing with little binding and that would give all the businesses run by normal human beings business!
No, the left isn't lying about anything. The Mississippi leaders are trying to make it so fundamentalists can fire, harass, and refuse to serve LGBT without repercussions and if that's not discrimination I don't know what is.
Let's try this with just a slight alteration:
The media writes, but does it read? Too few seem to, based on the coverage of Mississippi’s new religious liberty law. After Governor Phil Bryant (R-Miss.) signed a bill that essentially reaffirmed the First Amendment, headlines across the country screamed that Mississippi had just given Americans a “license to discriminate.” “Mississippi governor signs law allowing businesses to deny service to black people,” some read regardless of the fact that the measure does no such thing!
Governor Bryant, like the 20 states with religious liberty laws before him, didn’t create a new “religious right” for businesses to turn people away. No believer I know would want that, let alone lobby for it. Despite what the Left would have you think, this debate isn’t about Christians discriminating against anyone it’s about stopping the government from discriminating against them!
All that Mississippi leaders have done is make sure that the state can’t punish, fine, fire, or block someone from a government work for believing in natural racial segregation. The Left lies about what the bill does because they know if people knew the truth, they’d probably support it! And a level playing field the same one they used to demand for their own values is not what they want for men and women of faith. Forced acceptance is.
didn’t create a new “religious right” for businesses to turn people away. No believer I know would want that, let alone lobby for it.
Have you been living under a rock for the past 5 years or so? All I've been hearing about is how terrible it will be that Christian bakers are going to be forced to bake wedding cakes for gay couples and they should be allowed to refuse.
There's a strange marriage between the free-market crowd and the religious fundies in the states. They tend to combine these two into saying that they have a god-given right to act however they please in their own business, and that the government or other people cannot deny that right except by refusing to shop there.
Great idea, until you take it to its logical conclusion: The government shouldn't impose any health codes or safety regulations on businesses, and companies can collude to provide the shoddiest goods at the highest prices simply by muscling out the competition and forming a monopoly.
"The Left lies about what the bill does because they know if people knew the truth, they’d probably support it!"
No. We tell the truth because we know if people knew the truth, they’d probably support it.
@Elie:good thing.
All that Mississippi leaders have done is make sure that the state can’t punish, fine, fire, or block someone from a government work for believing in natural marriage.
You can believe the earth rests on the back of a giant turtle and nobody will fire you from government work. It's only when you try to act on your idiocy and deny the civil rights of other people that the rest of us object.
All that Mississippi leaders have done is make sure that the state can’t punish, fine, fire, or block someone from a government work for believing in natural marriage.
How does this believe manifest itself if not by denying gay people service? Fucking liar.
@Sasha:
The good thing is that Great A’Tuin doesn’t care one iota if you believe in her or not.
States have to really be on the watch for these bills that are "essentially reaffirmed the" or reinforcing established bills and statutes. What they are doing is sneaking more and more religious wording into law, setting up precedents for allowing Christian speak into law.
It's all Michelle Bachmann did during her entire political career. Waste time trying to wedge Christian fundamentalist ideology into the states books. Down South the Bible Belt states have now funded Creationist Schools and are adding bills at a rapid pace trying to Christianize law state by state.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.
