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Politics Why Indiana's Religious Freedom Law Is Such A Big Deal

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by Denny Crane, Apr 1, 2015.

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BlazerCaravan Hug a Bigot... to Death

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EL PRESIDENTE said: ↑

NAH BRO. YOU HAVE TO MAKE ME MY "I LOVE SLUTS" CAKE, BRO.
Click to expand...

I think the salient point is that there's a difference between choosing to want an I Love Sluts cake, and being genetically programmed from before birth to want an I Love Sluts cake. I can choose not to honor your choice, but if you can't help but love sluts, I can't discriminate against that.

BlazerCaravan, Apr 1, 2015

#21

magnifier661 likes this.
magnifier661 B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

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BlazerCaravan said: ↑

I think the salient point is that there's a difference between choosing to want an I Love Sluts cake, and being genetically programmed from before birth to want an I Love Sluts cake. I can choose not to honor your choice, but if you can't help but love sluts, I can't discriminate against that.
Click to expand...

And as one that couldn't help but love Sluts because I was born that way, I expect those to serve me hot slutty blonde girls daily.

magnifier661, Apr 1, 2015

#22
SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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Memories Pizza in Walkerton, IN, the restaurant which has stated they will refuse to serve gay couples, has had their website hacked

SlyPokerDog, Apr 1, 2015

#23
3RA1N1AC 00110110 00111001

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The Religious Freedom Restoration Act says the government cannot "substantially burden" a person's ability to follow their religious beliefs

It seems Rastafarians have a pretty good case that they should be able to legally smoke marijuana?

3RA1N1AC, Apr 1, 2015

#24
Denny Crane It's not even loaded! Staff Member Administrator

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3RA1N1AC said: ↑

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act says the government cannot "substantially burden" a person's ability to follow their religious beliefs

It seems Rastafarians have a pretty good case that they should be able to legally smoke marijuana?
Click to expand...

Indians get to do peyote.

Denny Crane, Apr 1, 2015

#25
donkiez Well-Known Member

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http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/04/0...t-gay-weddings-was-fabricated-out-of-nothing/

Indiana’s Memories Pizza Reportedly Becomes First
Business To Reject Catering Gay Weddings
Memories Pizza is a nine-year-old shop in downtown Walkerton, Indiana, just a few blocks from John Glenn High School. It’s owned by an openly-Christian couple, the O’Connors, who decorate their shop with mementos of their faith in Christ. So how does a small business in a small town wind up making headlines around the world as the new avatar of Christian bigotry?

Perhaps, you say, they brought this upon themselves, seeking out publicity for their strict biblical views.

Eh…no.

Some cursory internet forensics shows how it happened…or rather, how it was made to happen.

ABC-57 reporter Alyssa Marino’s editor sends her on a half-hour drive southwest of their South Bend studio, to the small town of Walkerton (Pop. ~2,300). According to Alyssa’s own account on Twitter, she “just walked into their shop [Memories Pizza] and asked how they feel” about Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Owner Crystal O’Connor says she’s in favor of it, noting that while anyone can eat in her family restaurant, if the business were asked to cater a gay wedding, they would not do it. It conflicts with their biblical beliefs. Alyssa’s tweet mentions that the O’Connors have “never been asked to cater a same-sex wedding.”

What we have here is — as we called in journalism school jargon — “no story.” Nothing happened. Nothing was about to happen.

If I were forced to mark out a story line, it would be this: A nice lady in a small town tries to be helpful and polite to a lovely young reporter from “the big city.”

In other words, Memories Pizza didn’t blast out a news release. They didn’t contact the media, nor make a stink on Twitter or Facebook. They didn’t even post a sign in the window rejecting gay-wedding catering jobs. They merely answered questions from a novice reporter who strolled into their restaurant one day – who was sent on a mission by an irresponsible news organization.

Next: ABC-57 anchor Brian Dorman leads the evening newscast dramatically with this:

Only on ABC-57 News tonight. We went into small towns looking for reaction to the Religious Freedom Act. We found one business, just 20 miles away from a welcoming South Bend…with a very different view.

Alyssa Marino tweets the genesis
of the Memories Pizza scoop.

Notice that his city of South Bend is “welcoming,” but that small-town business is not. It’s very different. That’s why ABC-57 “went into small towns,” as if embarking on a safari to aboriginal lands.

Not only did ABC-57 News create that story ex nihilo (out of nothing), but the next day, the station’s Rosie Woods reported on the social-media backlash against the Christian pizza shop owners.

“Our Facebook page has been blowing up with comments after we aired that story last night,” said Woods.

At this point, even my old Leftist journalism professors would be grinding their teeth and rending their garments.

You see, not only did ABC-57 manufacture the story with an ambush interview, it then doubled-down by making the reaction to the story into another story to give the sense of momentum, as if it were growing at its own impetus. Yet, everything about it is a fabrication.

Memories Pizza didn’t “publicly vow to reject gay weddings” as HuffPo says it. The O’Connors were just, quite literally, minding their own business.

Back in the ABC-57 studio, Rosie Woods read three negative social media comments attacking the pizza shop owners, and then said, “And that’s just one side of this debate that’s heating up as more people and business owners speak up about the law.”

She then quotes one (1) person, the owner of another business, who agreed with the O’Connors. Seems that “just one side of this debate” deserves more attention than the other.

This false Buzzfeed headline has been seen hundreds of thousands of times.

The unnamed ABC-57 editor then sends another reporter door-to-door on Walkerton’s rather depressed-looking main drag, trying to get reactions from other business people about the pizza shop owners. And the story inexorably snowballs onward, with only man’s yearning for truth to propel it.

All of the blog traffic and social media activity led to about 36,000 Facebook shares at ABC57.com on the original Alyssa Marino story less than 24 hours after it aired.

BuzzFeed posted its own inaccurate headline, with the kicker: ”The Internet has unleashed its wrath.”

All of those eyeballs benefit the TV station, which sells advertising on its website. It also helps several young, minor-market reporters who hustled and stumbled their way into the national spotlight. But don’t blame them. Blame the editor.

Meanwhile, over at Yelp.com, more than a thousand “reviews” of Memories Pizza rapidly accumulated, quickly overwhelming the positive comments from actual customers who like the pizza, the hospitality and the small-town charm. Folks who never heard of Walkerton attacked Crystal O’Connor’s business, her morality and her Lord. Many of the remarks included racially charged descriptions of genitalia and sex acts. “Reviewers” also posted pictures of naked men, of Adolf Hitler shouting “Ich habe ein pizza” (I have a pizza), and of Jesus gesturing with his middle finger. Over on Facebook, the restaurant’s 5-star average rating rapidly plunged to one star, as non-customers slammed away at Crystal’s little business.

In Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, a manifesto of political power, Rule No. 12 says, in part:

Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

The Left doesn’t care who gets hurt, so long as they get what they want. They’re willing — no, they’re eager — to sacrifice a small-town business, and it’s owners.

Lest you think I’m being too dramatic. Late Wednesday, word comes that Jess Dooley, a female coach at Concord High School 45 minutes away in Elkhart, has been suspended after tweeting:

Who’s going to Walkerton, IN to burn down #memoriespizza w me?

Read more: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/04/0...-was-fabricated-out-of-nothing/#ixzz3WH0p1Cx3
Click to expand...

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

#26

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oldmangrouch persona non grata

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Ms O'Connor has a right to support the law. Those who disagree have the right to not patronize her business.

oldmangrouch, Apr 3, 2015

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PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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oldmangrouch said: ↑

Ms O'Connor has a right to support the law. Those who disagree have the right to not patronize her business.
Click to expand...

All true. It's a good thing that enterprising reporter went out and unearthed that business-owner's latent bigotry and ensured that it was properly publicized, otherwise right-minded, well-meaning residents of Walkerton might have unintentionally supported their evil discriminatory viewpoint by buying their pizza.

Hooray for full disclosure.

PtldPlatypus, Apr 3, 2015

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BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94 AWOL

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These people on social media/review sites are total sith lords lol

They only deal in absolutes.

BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94, Apr 3, 2015

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3RA1N1AC 00110110 00111001

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Straight or gay, who the fuck caters their wedding with pizza?

3RA1N1AC, Apr 3, 2015

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BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94 AWOL

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3RA1N1AC said: ↑

Straight or gay, who the fuck caters their wedding with pizza?
Click to expand...

Poor people. They probably have a few cases of Pabst to go with it.

The type of people that stretch their ears to the point where Lexington Steele would say "damn this is loose."

BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94, Apr 3, 2015

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donkiez Well-Known Member

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3RA1N1AC said: ↑

Straight or gay, who the fuck caters their wedding with pizza?
Click to expand...

That was my first reaction also. Read the article I posted above though, the pizza shop has never had any requests for wedding catering and had no expectations of catering any weddings of any kind. The media whores targeted this establishment and made this whole story playing both sides against eachother for ratings. Fuck ABC57

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

#32
donkiez Well-Known Member

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Pandora's box is almost completely open.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/31/mike-pence-s-new-fan-club-wiccans.html

Mike Pence’s New Fan Club: Wiccans
Conservative Christians in Indiana may have accidently protected Wiccans’ religious right to plural marriage, drugs and nudity.
Among the howls of opponents who insist that religious freedom ordinances limit LGBT civil rights, conservative lawmakers in Indiana and other states have found unlikely allies: Wiccans, who claim that any laws that give greater religious freedom are manna from the earth mother.

“I think these bills are horrible,” said Dusty Dionne, High Priest and High Summoner of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Washington State. “But if they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.”

Reverend Dionne, reached at his church in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, took time out from planning for his church’s Spring Mysteries Festival—a re-creation of an initiation ceremony for the cult of Demeter in which ancient Greeks “learned to no longer fear death”—to speak to The Daily Beast. He explained what bills like the one that Indiana passed and that other states are considering would mean for Wiccans and Pagans.

For one, it would mean Wiccans would be free to at last marry whomever, or whatever, they wanted.

“Many of us believe that love is the law. Though it is not a quote-unquote Wiccan tenet to have polyamorous marriages, it is under Wiccan law that love is the law,” he said. “Whatever we want to do with marriage we can do. Carte Blanche. If I want to marry a horse, I can marry a horse.”

Dionne also pointed out that Wiccans have been “herbalists forever,” which would mean not just the freedom to use marijuana, but a host of psychotropic drugs banned by state government.

And if Wiccan residents of Indiana or other states that passed religious freedom ordinances would want to test for any substances, according to the high priest, Wiccans would be free to refuse.

“We believe in internal magic. We believe that we carry our essence within ourselves, our bodies, so we won’t for example drink from a cup of a person we don’t know or, clip our nails in the house of someone we don’t know, because if someone with ill intent has a part of our internal essence, they can hold a power over us. My body is a temple. If you come for a piece of my temple, I can say no.”

Which means, Dionne says, that Wiccans would be able to opt out of blood tests, DNA tests, urine tests, and even Breathalyzer tests if they choose to assert their rights under the new bill.

Furthermore, should a Wiccan be found to dancing naked under the light of a full moon in Terre Haute, they would be immune from prosecution merely by citing “The Charge of the Goddess,” a Wiccan holy scripture: “Whenever you have need of anything, once a month, and better it be when the moon is full, you shall assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of Me Who is Queen of all the Wise. You shall be free from slavery, and as a sign that you be free you shall be naked in your rites. Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in My Presence, for Mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and Mine also is joy on earth.”

But Indiana is not the only state that can look forward to naked, stoned, horse-marrying Wiccans. In March, Dionne endorsed a bill in Georgia similar to Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, sending a letter to every member of the legislature thanking them for opening “many doors for our brothers and sisters of the Craft. It will be the burden of the government to institute the appropriate policy changes to infrastructure, and the training needed to properly uphold the new rights that Wiccans hold within the new truly religiously free state of Georgia.”

To be fair, Dionne insists that his lobbying was meant to be tongue-in-cheek, saying, “We have a First Amendment already.”

Some Wiccans do have concerns with what Dionne insists is merely humorous needling. Speaking to WildHunt.org, a website that covers social issues through “A Modern Pagan Perspective,” Wiccan Priest Matthaios Theadoros was concerned that “they are seeming to set up Wicca as one that participates in polyamory and insinuates some sort of questionable herb use. Though some Wiccans may be polyamorous, it is disingenuous to suggest that it is an inherent part of the religion.”

Heather Greene, an editor at Wild Hunt, said that a person in a minority religion is thrilled with any legislative support that protects the ability to practice and worship freely. However, she added that “the concern is that recent RFRA language is so broad that it will ultimately only lead to both religious and LGBTQ discrimination.”

Greene also pointed to a number of instances where Wiccans could have benefited from additional legal protection including schoolchildren forced to remove their pentangle symbols even as their classmates were permitted to wear crosses, and the Antelope Valley Pagan Pride Day, which was crashed by screaming protesters waving Bible verses.

As for Dionne, he says that while his endorsement of religious freedom bills is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, he is also willing to take advantage of his new power, should his new conservative Christian bedfellows manage to pass laws like Indiana’s in other states. He said newly emboldened Wiccans would be ready to defend their newfound rights.

“We are the fifth-largest religion in America, and we are the fastest growing. If they pass these laws, we are going to beat a fucking drum.”
Click to expand...

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

#33
donkiez Well-Known Member

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allahu akbar Indiana

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/03/next-we-muslims-bring-sharia-to-indiana.html

Next, We Muslims Bring Sharia to Indiana
Allah’s blessings be upon you, Mike Pence. Now that “religious conscience” means whatever, we Muslims are going to town!
I, along with millions of Muslims across the country, have to give it up for Indiana Governor Mike Pence and his merry band of liberty-loving Republicans in the state legislature. The “religious liberty” law they recently enacted may be causing an uproar, but for us Muslims, it means we can now finally impose sharia law in Indiana!

I’m not sure who is happier, the Wiccans or us? As The Daily Beast’s David Freedlander wrote on Tuesday, the Wiccans are loving this law. Okay, actually they think it’s a “horrible” law because of its potentially discriminatory impact against the LGBT community. But as Dusty Dionne, High Priest and High Summoner of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Washington State, told Freedlander, “If they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.” There has to be one Muslim Wiccan out there who is truly delirious with joy. (Although I’m not sure technically if such a combo is possible.)

In any event, while the NCAA, Apple, and others may be thinking of steering clear of the Hoosier State, we Muslims are coming. Think a caravan of wagon trains heading to the Midwest in the 1800s, but this caravan will be all Muslim, and we will be coming to the state in everything from Mercedes-Benzes to taxicabs.

Some might be asking, could Muslims really impose sharia law in some fashion in Indiana—turning Indiana into a mini Muslim caliphate? Well, the Indiana law doesn’t just provide “religious liberty” for Christians. It provides “liberty” for all faiths, and that includes us Muslims. (Yes, that shrieking sound you heard was from the Christian conservatives who championed this law intending it to truly only benefit fellow Christians.)

So what does the law provide? Simply that the government can’t “substantially burden” our religious practice unless it can prove that doing so “(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.”

Bottom line: There are now so many things we can do in Indiana that we are not able to do in the rest of America. For starters, it’s time for me to go wife shopping. You see, I can have up to four wives in my faith. I truly can’t think of any “compelling governmental interest” that could prevent that.

I can’t wait to see the face of the conservatives who refused to bake a cake for a gay couple when I say I want a cake for my heterosexual marriage and they smile. And then I add, it’s so I can take a third wife. Wonder how they will react?

Maybe we can get deals on wedding dresses if we buy three or four at a time? Sorta like the great deals at Costco when you buy in bulk. And the upside for Pence and his right-wing comrades is the expected wedding industry boom in Indiana from all these Muslims weddings. It could possibly even make up the revenue Indiana will lose if in the future the NCAA refuses to hold its annual basketball Final Four there or the NFL says no more Super Bowls.

And wait until we start blasting our calls to prayer (known as the Adhan) five times a day across the Hoosier state. The first one, known as Fajr, is right before sunrise. Nothing says “wake up, Indiana!” like a man calling out in Arabic at 5 in the morning for everyone to come pray. And to show our appreciation, after each sunrise prayer, we can use the statewide sound system to thank Mike Pence by name.

Nothing says “Wake up, Indiana!” like a man calling out in Arabic at 5 in the morning for everyone to come pray.
Plus if you come to any of our restaurants you better say, “As-Salaam-Alaikum.” Look, it’s either “submit or no shawarma.” And if you try to sue us because you are upset we are forcing you to say this, well, guess what, the Indiana law offers us a defense to that because saying “peace be with you” is part of our religion.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of “Muslim stuff” we will be joyfully imposing—I mean, practicing—in Indiana thanks to the GOP. I asked my Muslim friends via social media what else the good people of Indiana can expect to see in the near future. So here you go:

· Allow wudhu (the washing before our prayers) in public fountains. Think the opening of the TV show Friends with the cast frolicking in public fountains, but instead it will happen five times a day and feature a much more racially diverse group of people.

· Stop paying interest on credit cards and mortgages. To some Muslims, interest payments (known as “riba”) are considered a violation of Islam.

· All Cracker Barrels must be halal—hope you like turkey bacon on your BLT.

· Being permitted to take naps during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast.

· Bidets in every public bathroom. (This was a popular suggestion.)

· Nobody is allowed to walk in his house with shoes on. (OK, this isn’t based on the religion but culturally is a big one for many Muslims, so why not?)

· Randomly show up to pray in offices of Republican representatives.

And the list goes on.

I’m sure the conservatives who passed Indiana’s SB 101, especially the three despicable anti-gay bigots who stood behind Pence cheering him on when he signed this law, never expected that they would be turning Indiana into a Midwestern mecca for Muslims. But here’s hoping other Republican state legislatures do the same thing soon. Before you know it we will be hearing the call to prayers across the nation. I especially can’t wait until it comes to Texas!
Click to expand...

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

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donkiez Well-Known Member

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The real test will be when two "religious freedoms" are competing for the same social resources.

Ive decided that Im a fan of this law, not because of the gay or religion aspect, but because of the general chaos this is creating. Some of us just like to watch the world burn!

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

#35
3RA1N1AC 00110110 00111001

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Or, you know, fuck religion. Any religious laws out there worth having?

3RA1N1AC, Apr 3, 2015

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EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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EL PRESIDENTE, Apr 3, 2015

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EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

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I guess that Pizza place has over $800,000 in donations from GoFundMe.

EL PRESIDENTE, Apr 3, 2015

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donkiez Well-Known Member

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EL PRESIDENTE said: ↑

I guess that Pizza place has over $800,000 in donations from GoFundMe.
Click to expand...

WTF? It was like 260k this morning. Wow, Im going to start a bakery in Indiana

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

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donkiez Well-Known Member

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3RA1N1AC said: ↑

Or, you know, fuck religion. Any religious laws out there worth having?
Click to expand...

Best answer in the thread. They should all go back the drawing board in my opinion.

donkiez, Apr 3, 2015

#40

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