The Indiana Star has published the full text of the controversial “religious freedom” law. I first heard about it from a friend of a friend who was repeating sound bites off the TV, which, as you shall see, were a stretch. I kindly provide the link. The substance is in Sections 8 and 9.
My take is, I am in harmony with the sentiments, as they appropriately reinforce government’s role of protecting free exercise of conscience. They do not, as I was led to believe, make people record and turn over bedroom videotapes to demonstrate orientation before they may order a sandwich. My only problem is, free exercise of conscience is a right that some of the Founders thought was so self-evident it made the Bill of Rights redundant. How many layers of how many separate pieces of legislation do we need to say, as the Libertarian Party used to joke about an amendment to the Constitution, “And we mean it”? And even if we do, skilled lawyers can wrest thousands of meanings from whatever is penned.
