On Thursday morning, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill into law. Seems like just another day for the governor, signing bills and all. But no, on Thursday, Gov. Mike Pence unleashed a horrible can of worms.

The bill he signed was entitled the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The laymen’s terms of the bill, “…prevent(s) state and local governments from ‘substantially burdening’ a person’s exercise of religion unless a compelling governmental interest can be proved.” Although it’s worded to sound broader, it allows a business owner to refuse service to the LGBT community if they believe their religious beliefs are burdened.

It’s a shame that Indiana has decided to relegate a faction of people to second-class citizens.

I think most decent Americans can concur that the drafters of our Constitution granted us the right of freedom of religion — and that’s great. We often, unfortunately, forget that that right includes freedom from religion.

Most Americans are familiar with the types of situations that apparently constitute laws like this. A gay couple is planning their wedding, and their baker or florist of choice refuses them service due to their religious morals. To most of us, it wouldn’t make sense to choose a refusing baker or florist anyway. But, it is more importantly about the concept. As The Daily Beast writes, “This legislation permits businesses… that provide basic needs and services to put the lives of a less privileged few in peril.”

I think we all agree that we have the right to choose who we associate with in society. However, that’s quite irrelevant. As Anne Hathaway explained at the 2008 Human Rights Campaign Dinner, “Love is a human experience, not a political statement.” And that’s relevant.

Most think that we’re past the issue of LGBT discrimination, especially at a governmental level. Most assume the LGBT community is protected from discrimination based on orientation/identity in the workplace and other government services. Wrong. Only in 18 states is that the case, and Indiana is not one of them.

Proponents claim the bill is modeled after a federal statute of a similar name from 1993. Unfortunately, modeled is a poor word. That federal statute involves Supreme Court procedure in cases of religious freedom, but nothing to do with businesses and public service. Lawmakers in Indiana thought it would be wise to use the same language, “compelling governmental special interest, etc.” to provide a smokescreen for true bigotry.

Also, the bill doesn’t just stop at the LGBT community. Opponents of the legislation cite cases of women planning abortions, interracial couples and most forms of bigotry. It is essentially encouraging existing prejudice at the public service level.

Many proponents and members of Christian America feel that they’re being attacked more and more by radical liberalism. Interestingly enough, the goal of our Founding Fathers was to prevent exactly what has happened.

James Madison, when drafting the Constitution, didn’t see the need for a religious establishment clause. He felt that there were so many diverse beliefs that no one religion would dare try to become dominant. We’ve seen quite the opposite. Today, we see many people in said dominant religion who believe that their right to judge is sacred, above everyone else’s.

We must remind ourselves that the simple foundations of sacred beliefs, regardless of denomination, are meant to practice love and acceptance. Because no religion that encourages bigotry is one worth practicing.

The matter is quite simple. When you feel it is acceptable to relegate a group of people to beneath others, to unworthy of human status, then you don’t deserve to be called a decent human being. Diversity is inevitable. Accept it.

Eric Dunay is a freshman in the School of Architecture. His column appears weekly. He can be contacted at ebdunay@syr.edu or on Twitter @ERock_28.

Published on March 30, 2015 at 11:24 pm