Link to 20 “principles” guiding Jeff Session’s “thinking.”
When Trump took office, I put out several notes on this site and on social media regarding what was being planned by the Trump people to maximize religious freedom for the religious while taking freedoms away from those do not conform to the expectations of certain others who might use religious claims to interfere with the rights of non-believers or believers in something other than what some religious people would rather they believe in and act in accordance with,
That is one hell of a sentence, I know, but I do not have another way of explaining what the meaning of Session’s recent Justice Department pronouncement on what he calls “religious freedom.” It deserves a reading, a fairly careful one so Session’s attempts at caginess are not missed. Now, the government will bend over backwards to defend what it claims to be religious rights even if what is being established as religious right cancels out the secular rights that a sane reading of foundational documents provides ALL.
In Session’s idiotic interpretation of religious freedom, one can discriminate against others who are, by law, protected from particular kinds of discrimination by claiming the discrimination is base in religious belief, belief that does not have to be of or from any particular religion, or any religious teachings. In essence, anyone can discriminate against anyone else even if law protects against such, by the discriminating person simply claiming that his or her beliefs necessitate such discrimination.
This is absolutely insane. My religion, say, tells me that women and men should not work in close proximity so, it is my religious right to not hire women because men already work in my shop! I do not need make reference to any teachings or authorities or even name the particular religion that prohibits men and women working together. When it comes to showing cause, all I have to do is say “this is what I believe.” Any prejudice, any bias can serve as reason for being unfair as long as I attribute it to my religion.
There is more there and most of it reflects a profound disrespect for individual freedoms under the law. The Justice Department of the United States of America is making law that contradicts the letter and the intent of a Constitution that is intended to reflect in a code of law basic and natural rights that must, in a humane society, be afforded all. Religion is protected but Constitutional law also protects the people from religion and it is the latter protection that Jeff Sessions, that nasty, hateful racist, is undermining to make lawful and the kinds of actions any good human who believe in democracy would find abhorrent.