Charles C. Haynes: Justice Scalia’s disastrous decision on religious freedom

  Since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on Feb. 13, conservative religious and political leaders have lavished praise on the long-serving justice as a champion of religious freedom.

  Alan Spears, head of the Christian advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, hails Scalia as “the most vocal and passionate voice on the Supreme Court for religious freedom.” Sen. Ted Cruz warns, “We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans.”

  But surely this is either a case of selective amnesia or wishful thinking.

Sarah McBride: The economic cost of overly broad RFRAs

  In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision that brought marriage equality nationwide, dozens of reactionary state legislatures are considering a range of anti-LGBT laws designed to legalize and sanction discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Overly broad state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, or RFRAs—one of the most common pieces of anti-LGBT legislation—provide wide-ranging exemptions that enable religiously based discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people and their families.

Sarah McBride: A return to the status quo: Indiana’s so-called RFRA fix

  Indiana legislators recently announced their much-anticipated fix to the state’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. The amendment was prompted by a national outcry from businesses, faith communities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, Americans and their allies in response to the discriminatory consequences of the bill, which could nullify existing municipal sexual-orientation and gender-identity nondiscrimination protections in Indiana.

Sally Steenland: State religious freedom restoration acts threaten true religious liberty

  There’s an important debate going on in our country that lots of folks aren’t paying much attention to. I can’t say that I blame them. After all, with work, kids, bills, errands, and more—how much energy is left over to think about religious freedom?

  But here’s the thing: The current debate about religious freedom is already shaping laws and policies that will affect each one of us. Many of these laws and policies are harmful and will have far-reaching consequences that affect the everyday details of our lives—from our ability to shop at certain businesses to the cost of our health care—that even the supporters of these laws are likely to regret.