Yep, conservatives seem to use Orwell's 1984 as a blueprint. They love to rebadge oppression as 'freedom'. Of course, in a sense they are right. If you limit someone's ability to oppress others, you limit his or her freedom to do as he or she pleases. For instance, the Magna Carta certainly reduced the Monarchy's power and freedom.
Conservative Christians such as Cruz and Pence believe that gays are an abomination and their lives should be a misery in this world and the next. They believe that the Bible gives them the right to oppress such sinners. But demanding the right to discriminate and ostracise them isn't good PR. Why not rebadge the Right to Discriminate as a fight for the Freedom of Religion? Hell yeah!
They love to twist the 1st Amendment which states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ...". This explicitly prohibits attempts by the US or State Governments to declare Christianity as the religion of the US but that hasn't stopped the Christian Right from demanding this anyway. The Supreme Court ruled that: "Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere [religious] opinion, but was left free to reach [only those religious] actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order."
In other words, the First Amendment didn't allow people to invoke their religion to excuse them from obeying the laws of the land, the prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of services being one such law. Attempts by Pence and others to grant a right to discriminate were deemed unconstitutional.
The funny thing is that this social conservative agenda runs counter to libertarian values and the desire to minimise Government interference in the lives of citizens.
Conservative Christians such as Cruz and Pence believe that gays are an abomination and their lives should be a misery in this world and the next. They believe that the Bible gives them the right to oppress such sinners. But demanding the right to discriminate and ostracise them isn't good PR. Why not rebadge the Right to Discriminate as a fight for the Freedom of Religion? Hell yeah!
They love to twist the 1st Amendment which states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ...". This explicitly prohibits attempts by the US or State Governments to declare Christianity as the religion of the US but that hasn't stopped the Christian Right from demanding this anyway. The Supreme Court ruled that: "Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere [religious] opinion, but was left free to reach [only those religious] actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order."
In other words, the First Amendment didn't allow people to invoke their religion to excuse them from obeying the laws of the land, the prohibition on discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of services being one such law. Attempts by Pence and others to grant a right to discriminate were deemed unconstitutional.
The funny thing is that this social conservative agenda runs counter to libertarian values and the desire to minimise Government interference in the lives of citizens.