Attacks on Religious Freedom Underscore Why Protections Are Needed

Indiana and Arkansas lawmakers headed back to the drawing boards recently to rewrite language for their states’ respective Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA), due to heavy backlash from businesses and advocates of homosexuality.

The angry opposition to religious freedom is the exact reason every state needs legal protections for faith.

Every American, regardless of political or religious views, should be free to live and work according to their conscience without fear of punishment and backlash from the government. Regardless of what advocates of homosexual behavior say, our government was formed to be freedom’s greatest protector, not its greatest threat.

AFA sent Action Alerts into Arkansas and Indiana early last week, calling on the state’s citizens to urge their governors to sign the initial religious freedom measures put before him by their state’s lawmakers. They were good bills.

Last Wednesday, in the wake of pressure, Hutchinson instead called for changes to Arkansas’ religious freedom bill. He signed the revised bill on Thursday. Similarly, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed his state’s revised bill on Thursday.

We have often shared case after case of Americans who were forced into making business decisions that were not in line with their faith convictions, such as bakers, florists and photographers who were pressured into providing services for same-sex weddings – or punished for not doing so – even though their convictions dictated otherwise.

Americans should never be asked to violate their convictions against homosexual behavior by endorsing it through their businesses. Our nation thrives only when we tolerate a diversity of opinions and not allow the government to punish citizens for their beliefs.