OK, can we talk about Kansas . . . and Arizona . . . and Idaho?

Can we talk about any state that in 2014 is so backward that its legislature would waste valuable time that could have been dedicated to – oh, I don’t know – job creation, for instance, to find new, broad, vicious ways to disenfranchise a tiny segment of their constituency under the auspices of “religious freedom”? 

Yes, I’m fired up.  I was fired up when I read about the Kansas law.  I read What’s the Matter with Kansas? A couple of years ago, but I had no idea how deeply screwed up these people are – or at least how screwed up the voting majority is.

Where's the "love thy neighbor?"
Where’s the “love thy neighbor?”

They say it’s all about religious freedom.  So much religiosity, so much hate.  Why do the two so often go together?

This is not a new phenomenon, but we seem to be in a new upsurge of anger and animosity from vociferous members of the religious right.  More and more it’s not enough for Christians – Yes, Christians.  Face it, no one else is in a position to pull this crap – aren’t satisfied with living their version of God’s way.  They’re intent on foisting their rules on the rest of us while pretending they’re protecting themselves.  They need laws – big laws – to keep us from impinging on their deeply-held, yet incredibly fragile beliefs.  They need enforcers and guns and courts.

Why?  Where’s the “love thy neighbor,” the “live and let live,” the “do unto others” I’ve heard tell of?  I’m too steeped in Christianity to write off the whole concept.  I know people of faith have done some wonderful things.  But I also know people of faith – or deeply-held beliefs – have brought us the Inquisition, slavery, stonings, institutional child molestation and kill-the-gays laws. Not the best record.

Nevertheless, based on their deep and sincere religious convictions and lacking any capacity for self-examination or reflection, the politicos of the Kansas House of Representatives went hunting.  The prey?  The LGBT community – because at between 3% and 10% of the population, their eating and sleeping and co-habiting and buying flowers represents a monumental threat to the purity and holiness of the state of Kansas.

The commercial aspects of this bill were bad enough.  It allowed anyone even suspected of being LGBT (i.e. icky) or who might be doing business for LGBT people (and therefore icky by association) to be refused service in restaurants, denied access to hotels or ejected from them if their ickiness was discovered after check-in, generally blocked from any or all daily commerce activities.  Worse was that public employees would be allowed to pull the religion card, too.  Anyone from a garbage man to a county clerk to a police officer to a firefighter would have been empowered to refuse to do the jobs that tax dollars – even the gay ones – paid them to do.  For everyone.  Everyone.

Yes.  Police officers and firefighters could simply say no to LGBTs.  Think about that.  How long before the violence would escalate when everyone knew there was a good chance the police officer called to intervene in a bashing might opt out of helping the victim because of his deeply-held religious beliefs?  What if a whole truck of firefighters could choose to sit back and let a “gay” house burn because they didn’t support the homeowner’s lifestyle?

Is this really about religious freedom?  No – and saying it is won’t make it so.

We as a country love the story of the Pilgrims coming to the New World to escape religious persecution.  It goes to the heart of our national self-image.  We forget that the Pilgrims wanted to practice their own religion, but they weren’t at all interested in allowing anyone to deviate from their norm.  In fact, they were known to employ pretty Draconian measures to keep the flock in line.  These are the forebears of today’s Kansas House members.

To their credit, most of the Kansas State Senate recognized the evil the House had put in motion and stopped it.  I would have heaved a sigh of relief, but there wasn’t time before both of Arizona’s houses passed the same kind of law and Idaho followed up with one that’s even more cruel.

While we wait to see if Gov. Jan Brewer will do the right thing and veto the Arizona bill (she has till Friday), I can’t help thinking what a sad comment this makes Christianity, the faithful and some large chunks of the American population.