by Allen Clifton
I’ll give wingnuts this much – when they latch
onto a piece of propaganda, they sure as heck dedicate themselves to it.
For years they’ve been trying to violate our First Amendment by
interjecting religion into our laws. And on some levels they’ve been
successful.
But generally they’ve been defeated because our First Amendment is
pretty clear that laws cannot be based on religion.
Though the newest “trick” Republicans have tried to employ is the
argument they call “religious freedom.” Essentially it’s their way to
try to discriminate against people, or deny others their rights, based
on the argument that not allowing them to discriminate against certain
individuals based on their religious beliefs is somehow a violation of
their “religious freedom.”
Though I find it amazing how these people have deluded themselves that
attempting to restrict the freedoms of others is somehow “defending
liberty and freedom.”
So I thought I’d give 5 examples showing the differences between how
liberals and wingnuts view “religious freedom.”
1. Abortion
Liberals: Tend to support the right for a woman to decide for herself
whether or not she will have an abortion. Even many christian liberals
are pro-choice. Though I’ve rarely met anyone who’s “pro-abortion.”
There’s a difference between supporting someone’s right to have control
over their own body and liking the decision they make. I’m pro-choice
yet anti-abortion. Being pro-choice means that every single American
woman has the right to decide for herself what she should do with her
own body. If you want to have an abortion, go for it. If you don’t,
then you don’t have to. But the point is, liberals support the right
for every woman to have the freedom to choose for themselves. If a
woman objected to abortions based on her religion she wouldn’t have to
have one. But that would be her choice, someone else wouldn’t be making
that choice for her.
Wingnuts: Under their system of delusions, abortion would be
completely banned. No woman would have the right to have control over
her own body. The moment she became pregnant she would lose almost all
control she has over what happens to her body over the following 9
months. Under their delusional system, every single American woman would be
forced to adhere to the religious delusions of a certain percentage of
the population whether they shared those views or not. A woman who
didn’t believe in any kind of dog whatsoever would be forced to abide by
laws restricting the control she has over her body based on a dog in
which she didn’t believe. Where under the liberal pro-choice banner
every woman has the right to choose for herself, if wingnuts had
their way every woman in the United States would lose the freedom to
choose for themselves.
2. Same-sex Marriage
Liberals: Most liberals support same-sex marriage. Under liberal
beliefs every American (gay or straight) would have the freedom to marry
whomever they love, as long as it was another consenting adult.
Americans would have the freedom to choose for themselves who to marry.
It’s pretty simple: If you don’t support gay marriage, that’s great,
nobody is forcing you to marry someone of the same-sex. But at the end
of the day, nobody’s right to marry another consenting adult is
restricted – and no church’s right to perform those marriages is
restricted either.
Wingnuts: Most wingnuts believe same-sex marriage is against
what their false bible does not define marriage as. If wingnuts had
their way,
millions of gay Americans would lose their right to marry whomever they
love based on the religious delusions of other people. Under this
situation
(as we still see in many states right now) rights of Americans are
restricted based on the views of others. So even if a 'christian' cult
wants to marry a gay couple, if the state still doesn’t allow gay
marriage, that cult’s “religious freedom” is restricted because a few
other cults don’t believe that they should have that right. Under
wingnut delusions on marriage, millions of gay Americans would be
denied their rights to marry the person they loved.
3. Birth Control
Liberals: This kind of ties in with the abortion issue. See, most
liberals (as I said earlier) aren’t pro-abortion. And the best way to
lower abortion rates is to increase the accessibility and availability
of birth control. Even if some liberals might oppose some methods of
birth control, they don’t mandate that other people must be restricted
from using them. Again, liberals support the right for Americans to
choose for themselves. And being that for many women birth control is
an actual health issue, not just a way to help prevent unplanned
pregnancies, it’s vital that health care plans offer access to these
contraceptives. For liberals it’s about people having the choice to
choose for themselves. If people want to use them, great, they have the
freedom to do so. If some people object to contraceptives, that’s fine
too, they don’t have to use them.
Wingnuts: Many wingnuts oppose birth control. They believe
it’s against their delusion. If it were up to many of them they’d do as
much as they could to limit and restrict access to all forms of
contraceptives. Even in the Hobby Lobby case, one business owner argued
that their business should have the right to deny thousands of women
the choice of birth control methods based on their religious delusions.
By winning that case, one person’s religious delusions are now being
forced on thousands of women who might not share them.
4. Prayer in School
Liberals: This one is pretty simple – keep religion out of public
school. If some students want to personally pray while they’re in
class, they’re more than free to do so silently to themselves. I know I
did. But guess what, nobody ever knew. Because I kept it to myself.
Religion has no place in a place of public education. No one is saying
people can’t pray to themselves in class, we’re just saying public
schools shouldn’t promote or organize religious prayers or events. That
way nobody is forced to observe the religious practices of religions in
which they do not believe.
Wingnuts: Many wingnuts believe that public school should
include religion. Heck, many believe that creationism should be taught
alongside evolution. They also often support organized prayer in school
('christian' of course). If wingnuts had their way millions of
American students in public school would be forced to observe religious
rituals that they do not follow. The right to freedom from religion
for those students (and parents) who don’t want themselves or their
children subjected to delusions that they don’t follow or believe in
would be violated.
5. Freedom of Religion in General
Liberals: For liberals, it’s pretty simple. If you want to believe in a
particular religion, you’re free to do so – privately. People can go
to church 7 days a week if they want to and read the Bible every single
day. People can believe in whatever religion they want. If people
chose to not believe in any kind of religion at all, that’s perfectly
alright too. The issue is that every American is free to live their
personal lives as religiously, or as detached from religion, as they
want. If someone believes that all homosexuals are going against dog,
that’s their right to personally feel that way. Just don’t try to tell
others they have to share that particular view. In the liberal world,
every American gets to choose for themselves. In the liberal world
every single religion is viewed equally and not one single American
would be forced to follow laws based on a religion in which they do not
believe.
Wingnuts: Many believe that this country was founded, and should be
based on, christianity. They want laws to be written from scripture.
To them our First Amendment only applies to 'christian' Americans and not
Americans who follow other religions or don’t follow any religion at
all. Many wingnuts believe that denying them their right to impose
their delusion on others violates their rights – yet they don’t seem to
believe that others who don’t share their same deluded views should
be given any kind of religious rights. Under their ideology, one
religion would rule over 330 million people.
Notice the difference? When it comes to “religious freedoms” and
wingnuts, it’s all about them forcing their views on others. When
it comes to liberals, it’s all about keeping religion private and out of
government so that not one single American is forced to adhere to laws
based on a delusion they don’t follow.
So, while wingnuts go on and on about “religious freedom” what they
really mean is their “right” to have one religion ruling over 330
million Americans. When it comes to liberals, it’s about actual
freedom. It’s about letting every American decided for themselves what
religion (if any) that they’ll follow.
Because true “religious freedom” is about letting every individual
decide for themselves whether or not they’ll follow a particular
religion. It’s not about telling millions of Americans that they must
adhere to the rules set by a certain delusion whether they believe in it
or not.
