The left's lies about religious freedom laws

Washington Examiner Editorial:

From the furor, the boycotts, and the threats launched at the state of Indiana last week, one might get the impression that Gov. Mike Pence, R, had just signed a law that effectively legalizes discrimination against gays and lesbians. After all, as the New York Daily News headline put it, the law "effectively legalizes discrimination against gays, lesbians."

This is nonsense and a cardinal example (pun intended) of the lack of respect for the truth among certain crusading liberal journalists and editors.

In the real world, Pence signed a religious freedom law that is similar to those of 19 other states, some of which also ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That should have been the first clue. The second is that the law Pence signed is not very different from the one in Illinois that Barack Obama voted for as a state senator.

The new Indiana law is modeled after the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which requires courts to subordinate government interests to citizens' First Amendment freedom of religion as far as is practically possible. When government argues it must infringe religious freedom (this could pertain to the military draft, vaccinations or any of a number of topics), RFRA holds it to a higher standard ("strict scrutiny") in court to justify its interest in doing so. Assuming the interest is both legitimate and compelling, RFRA makes the government show that it is using the least restrictive means possible toward religious practice and observance in furthering its interest.

Indiana's law is identical in this regard, but it also permits the free exercise of religion to be used as a defense in certain civil lawsuits. (It does not compel juries or judges to accept the defense at face value.)
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The left has also tried to mislead by claiming this is a return to Jim Crow laws.  It is not.  Those laws required business to discriminate under penalty of law.  This law does not require them to discriminate and only gives them a defense n court if they are sued for not doing business with someone.

The left is trying to mad dog the issue, barking loudly trying to frighten people into violating their conscience.

In fact what it will do is allow those who want to provide services for things like gay weddings to openly compete for that business.