Religious Freedom

What does that mean? Does religious freedom mean that you can discriminate against people you don’t like? Does it mean that you can ignore laws you don’t like?

Does Respect for Transgender People Violate Religious Freedom?
VOA News
By William Gallo and Tina Trinh
June 2, 2016

Many churches in North Carolina support HB-2, saying it reflects their views on gender differences and is necessary to protect women and children from sexual predators.

But not Wedgewood. Over half its members are LGBT. Many are transgender people who say the law stigmatizes them as perverts.

"We are family-type people. We're regular working folks. We have good moral values," says Isley Whitfield, a 52-year-old transgender woman from Charlotte.
[…]
Across the state in Winston Salem, Pastor Ron Baity, who heads the Berean Baptist Church, is also focused on HB-2 and transgender issues.

"We feel like this is a good bill," says Baity, who has organized rallies in support of the law. "It's just common sense that women should use women's restrooms and men should use men's restrooms."

Yup, I agree that women should use women's restrooms and men should use men's restrooms. You should use the bathroom of your gender identity. Unfortunately, they do not believe that we are born the way we are and they see it as a choice, no matter how much scientific evidence there is to support that gender identity and sexual orientation is inherent they will still believe two thousand year old science.

Brandan Robertson, an author and evangelical activist who supports LGBT rights, predicts conservatives may have short-term success in passing discriminatory laws.

"From a policy perspective, it's a lot easier to propose laws than it is to combat laws," he says. "A lot of us are just now realizing that on the progressive side."

But long term, Robertson says conservative Christians appear to be in trouble, not least of all because opinion polls suggest increasing public support for LBGT rights.

Sensing that pressure, conservatives are spending an enormous amount of money to fight their legal battle on transgender issues, Robertson says.

They also think that these “religious freedom” laws only apply to LGBT people but some of them are so broad that they will allow people to discriminated based on race, just by claiming it is against their religion.