Wednesday, August 03, 2016

Anti-gay groups running away from Congressional 'religious freedom' bill


Religious right groups are running away from a Congressional bill they once pushed to supposedly protect those whose religious beliefs are against marriage equality.

Groups such as The American Family Association and the Family Research Council were at first trumpeting the First Amendment Defense Act as something Congress needed to pass. The bill at first read:

 The Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.

But then the language of the bill got edited to cover the religious beliefs of those who are for marriage equality:
 
The Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of two individuals of the opposite sex; or two individuals of the same sex; or extramarital relations are improper.

That's when religious right groups began withdrawing their support from the bill. According to blogger Joe Jervis, three religious right groups - the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and the Liberty Counsel - no longer support FADA because of the new language.

Poor babies. They found out that they aren't special.

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