As cliché as it is to write about, the most passionate current affairs event I care about currently is the recent decision of Governor Mike Pence of Indiana to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Upon hearing the news that this bill was passed, I'm sad to say my reaction was not one of shock, but of shame. I grew up believing in the idealized America, the greatest and most free nation in the world. I grew up hearing my parents tell me I was so lucky to live where I did, in a country where I could be whoever I wanted to be and do whatever I wanted to do in life. I am from Little Rock, Arkansas and went to an international studies school for elementary school, followed by a historically black middle school, and then went to the most famous high school in America, Little Rock Central. Every day I was reminded of the triumph of equality had by the Little Rock 9 during the desegregation crisis in 1957, how civil rights were something that America took to heart and fought for.
Equality and fairness were synonymous with The United States of America in my mind, so why did Indiana's new law not come as shock to me? The reason is because although America itself may represent freedom and equality, not all of its citizens do. I know people who still feel they are better than another race, I know people who think they are better than someone because of what religion they are, and I know more people than most that think they are better than people who identify as LGBT. But those people were just average civilians, part of me wanted to believe that the leaders of our states and nation were different. However, when I saw that Governor Pence had passed this act under the guise of “restoring religious freedom" I was ashamed of him. I was ashamed that a leader of a great state in our great nation had not stood for what he was supposed to, did not stand up for equality and civil rights.
Now, with my own home state on the threshold of passing a similar act, I grow even more ashamed. What saddens me the most though, is the way in which our nation's leaders who back this violation of civil rights do so through the shield of religious freedom. I am a Christian and I can tell you from personal experience that I have never needed the government's protection in practicing my faith. We are so fortunate as Christians to live in a nation where we aren't being crucified or rounded up in cages and paraded through the streets because of our faith. We look down upon those with radical practices in other parts of the world and mourn for the injustice happening there, yet where is our mourning for the injustice happening to citizens in our own country? Did not Jesus himself tell us to love our neighbors? How can we expect to share Jesus' love with those different from us if we back laws that are discriminatory and, for that matter, when has a law ever led to reconciliation in the Bible? I'm reminded of Romans 8 where it tells us that Jesus came to abolish the law of condemnation and bring the law of Spirit and life, what more is this law than a law of condemnation? I am not arguing whether or not a certain lifestyle or another is right or wrong in this, and I'm not trying to spark any religious debates, however I am arguing that the use of legislation to try and protect my religious freedom while simultaneously reducing the rights of others is wrong.
The use of one freedom bestowed upon us by our Constitution to eliminate the freedoms of others is a gross mis-use of what our founding fathers' words meant. For me, I will still hold on to the words “Liberty and Justice for all" because those words have always and will always inspire hope in my life, because I still believe that I do live in the greatest country in the world. I just hope that one day I can be a force to truly bring those words to life for everyone who lives here.
