Voices: Seeing the RFRA in black and white
Today, all issues are analyzed in black and white. This nuance-free rhetoric has infiltrated our discussions across the board, from gay rights to education reform, creating a world of "your side" versus "my side". Being multiracial (both black and white) helps shape the way I experience the world, often prompting me to perceive ambiguity, while others see clarity. With Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it is no different.
As the nation collectively decries the Indiana law that will potentially open the door for discrimination of same-sex couples and LGBT individuals, I feel slightly more conflicted.
On one hand, as a member of Indiana University's Christian Student Fellowship, I celebrate the idea of a religious freedom law. Over the past year, religious student groups around the country have been denied university recognition for requiring their leaders to hold the religious beliefs of the organization.
I personally am concerned about the growing movement to deny religious freedoms, not just for Christian groups, but all people. Recently Native American groups and Muslim individuals have had their freedoms protected by the 1993 federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and similar state laws.
This goes to show that carefully constructed religious freedom laws can play a beneficial role for our communities.
Despite my desire to protect freedoms for all religions, I cannot support Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
As a child of an interracial marriage, I stand by the protection of LGBT and same-sex marriage rights. As the Reverend Jesse Jackson said, "Discrimination against one group of people is discrimination against all of us."
I have personally experienced religious freedom used as a guise for withholding equal rights, as my grandfather attended Bob Jones University, where interracial dating was outlawed until 2000. He was confronted with the discriminatory reality of this practice upon meeting his soon-to-be African American son-in-law, my father.
Today, all Hoosiers must confront the similar discriminatory realities of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
As a student like my grandfather many years ago, I often struggle to confront the extent to which my religious convictions should influence my views on policy issues. While I do feel more conflicted over Indiana's RFRA than most, there is no doubt that this law is unacceptable in our state.
Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana State Legislature have failed to sufficiently protect the rights of all Hoosier citizens with this law. Even if their intentions were pure (which seems unlikely), the law's language does leave open loopholes for the possibility of sexuality-based discrimination.
How ironic that an espoused "freedom" law serves to potentially restrict, rather than protect, the freedoms for many citizens of our state.
I do believe the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should exist – just not in the form it is today. In order for religious freedom and concern for human rights to coexist, our government needs to take the step to protect the rights of LGBT citizens.
Whether that be amending the current law or finally establishing a law to prohibit discrimination based on gender or sexuality, something must be done.
But until our government can make those changes, I — a Christian, a Hoosier and a human being — cannot stand for this Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the state of Indiana.
Jalen Walker is a Hoosier Scholar, the vice president of Kelley student government, an active member of the Christian Student Fellowship, a soon-to-be world traveler and a killer intramural basketball player.