Written by Don Byrd
Writing at the ABPNews/Herald blog, Aaron Weaver calls out the extreme rhetoric from the left regarding state RFRA legislation like the law that recently passed in Mississippi, requiring the government to refrain from substantially burdening a person’s religious exercise unless it is necessary to achieve a compelling interest. He correctly points out that while earlier versions of the bill were troubling and lacked appropriate safeguards, the bill that ultimately passed was amended to rectify those problems.
Since the original bill included a specific provision protecting health care providers, opponents feared that Senate Bill 2681 would offer a religious liberty defense to a doctor or nurse who refused to treat a LGBT patient in violation of the state’s nondiscrimination statute.
Fortunately, the original version of Mississippi’s Senate Bill 2681 was not the version that passed. . . .
The bill that emerged from the House-Senate conference committee and passed Tuesday by the Mississippi legislature was a literal mirror image of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the bipartisan landmark legislation adopted by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton 20 years ago.
He goes on to note that despite these improvements in the bill, many advocates unfortunately continue to mischaracterize the law for political purpose.
Read the whole thing.
