The Wisdom of Justice Scalia Conservatives Wish to Ignore


Justice Scalia did not want a country is which "each conscience is a law unto itself." That was then. Today that is exactly what religious conservatives want. 

Judge Scalia was addressing a concern back then about Native Americans who used peyote as a part of the their religious rituals. Use of drugs back then, we can all recall, was considered a serious crime. Suspicion was inserting religion was merely an excuse to use drugs that were otherwise illegal. Scalia, a Catholic who probably knew well Catholics were granted the right to use alcohol during Prohibition, might have been a little torn. 

The link author,  Mark Silk, is a Methodist columnist and believes all the hand wringing by Christian conservative about the "Equality Act" is much to do about nothing. This Act, passed by the Democratic majority in the U.S. House extends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include gender identity, sexual preference along with gender. Discrimination would be prohibited in employment, housing, public accommodation, education, etc. 

Silk says it is probably wrong for the series of right wing religious organizations, including the Catholic Church, to predict this Act will have terrible outcomes. There are several court cases that limit how far this Act add to legal rights of gay people. Unfortunately, he is probably right.

He notes, however, about 3/4th of the voting public wants equal opportunity for gay people. Because of this things cannot be expected to return to where they were decades ago. This is true, he says, regardless to whether the Equality Act passes or not. 

The religious right miscalculated the politics of gay marriage and gay rights in general. Early on it was certain the majority of voters would cheer on conservative politicians and build church membership. Instead exactly the opposite has played out.

It is making another miscalculation on gender transition. The simplistic notion people who are both with anatomy of one gender are never mentally the other is not born out in actual experience. Also, the frequency of indeterminate gender of babies is common enough to make the simple conservative thinking invalid.

In the end, we cannot have a country where everyone can be exempt from any law they wish by claiming a religious exemption. 

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