{"id":470,"date":"2015-04-01T20:59:14","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T01:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=470"},"modified":"2015-07-27T16:40:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T21:40:28","slug":"shooting-your-state-in-the-foot-or-whos-your-best-friend-ctd-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2015\/04\/01\/shooting-your-state-in-the-foot-or-whos-your-best-friend-ctd-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooting Your State in the Foot; or, Who\u2019s your best friend?, Ctd"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the saga<\/a> continues, Wal-Mart now enters the fray<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In the statement, Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon says, \u201cEvery day in our stores, we see firsthand the benefits diversity and inclusion have on our associates, customers and communities we serve. It all starts with our core basic belief of respect for the individual. Today\u2019s passage of H.B. 1228 threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present throughout the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold. For these reasons, we are asking Governor Hutchinson to veto this legislation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the Arkansas governor obliges<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson<\/a> says he does not plan to sign the religious freedom bill that sits on his desk right now, instead asking state lawmakers to make changes so the bill mirrors federal law.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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The first-term Republican governor said he wants his state “to be known as a state that does not discriminate but understands tolerance.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Cristian Farias at TNR believes<\/a> the Arkansas law, as originally passed, is more extreme than the Indiana law:<\/p>\n

In the event the victim of discrimination brings suit against the business, the locality would likely join the action, since it\u2019s interested in enforcement of its nondiscrimination edicts. But at that point, the new Arkansas law would require the locality to show that nondiscrimination toward gays and lesbians \u201cis essential<\/em> to further a compelling government interest.\u201d The italicized language is exclusive to Arkansas, and presumably would lead courts to afford great deference to the religious beliefs of the business owners vis-\u00e0-vis the customers or the municipality\u2019s interest in a nondiscriminatory environment.<\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s definition of \u201csubstantial burden\u201d on religion also seems broader because it specifically singles out any action designed \u201cto prevent, inhibit, or curtail religiously-motivated practice consistent with a sincerely held religious belief\u201d\u2014these are the oft-cited wedding-vendor scenarios. And \u201creligious belief\u201d itself is defined nebulously as \u201cthe ability to act or refuse to act . . . whether or not the exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief.\u201d It\u2019s not hard to imagine the range of attitudes that fall into this definition\u2014including a flat denial as \u201cGod told me it\u2019s wrong for me to serve you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the old hierarchy problem<\/em>: what takes precedence, government or religion?\u00a0 Well, of course government does; but religion claims a special place in the minds of humanity, or so it claims: an all wise entity (or entities) not subject to the whim of man, but instead commanding them.\u00a0 But, of course, not everyone gets the same message; indeed, messages are conflicting.\u00a0 Thus the clashes, ranging from today’s tragedies in the Middle East to the various wars, insurrections, etc in Europe in most any age range before 1900 that you care to pick.<\/p>\n

So the US government has the ticklish problem of not stepping on religious beliefs while still running a coherent system.\u00a0 A thought experiment: my sect practices human sacrifice.\u00a0 The government prohibits murder and even suicide and the courts have ruled the government has a compelling reason to prohibit those sacrifices.<\/p>\n

So this is another, interesting push at the envelope.\u00a0 Can businesses pick their customers dependent on religious sensibilities?\u00a0 Hobby Lobby has a foot in the door<\/a>, and now the religious fundamentalists are trying to assert a new right.\u00a0 Much to their surprise, though, they’ve discovered their allies do not automatically follow along in all things; Big Business does not wish to risk the talent upon which their success rests, and they’ve moved to make it clear this is not acceptable.<\/p>\n

My sense is that a good court would overturn this law.\u00a0 “Religious sensibilities” may seem common-sensical and logical to the sect members holding them, but everyone not a member of that sect may find them bewildering – and at some point that will include right-wingers who find themselves kicked out of a restaurant because they’re whatever-they-are.\u00a0 This leads to distrust, based on religious differences, and in a nation that depends on ignoring religious differences, by not permitting them to rule our reality, by actually not even knowing – or caring – what sect you worship within – well, this cannot be permitted.<\/p>\n

(Updated 7\/27\/2015 to fix an incomplete – and incoherent – sentence)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the saga continues, Wal-Mart now enters the fray: In the statement, Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon says, \u201cEvery day in our stores, we see firsthand the benefits diversity and inclusion have on our associates, customers and communities we serve. It all starts with our core basic belief of respect for \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}