[StBernard] ICYMI - Bobby Jindal to warn of 'silent war' on religion

[Westley Annis]

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Bobby Jindal to warn of 'silent war' on religion


Bobby Jindal to warn of 'silent war' on religion

James Hohmann
February 13, 2014
Politico
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In a Thursday night speech at Ronald Reagan's presidential library,
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will warn of a "silent war" on religious liberty
in America and urge states to pass laws designed to block overreach by the
Obama administration.

The 4,500-word address, shared first with POLITICO, touches on several
hot-button issues, including same-sex marriage and contraception. Jindal, a
potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate trying to woo social
conservatives, argues that liberals will use the mantra of
anti-discrimination to force people to violate their religious beliefs.

"The American people, whether they know it or not, are mired in a silent
war," Jindal will say at the Simi Valley, Calif., event. "It threatens the
fabric of our communities, the health of our public square and the endurance
of our constitutional governance."

"This war is waged in our courts and in the halls of political power," he
adds, according to the prepared remarks. "It is pursued with grim and
relentless determination by a group of like-minded elites, determined to
transform the country from a land sustained by faith into a land where faith
is silenced, privatized and circumscribed."

The 42-year-old governor calls the upcoming Supreme Court decision on
whether government can force Hobby Lobby craft stores to cover contraception
through their health insurance plans just one of the battles being fought
over religious liberty.

Citing a piece of failed legislation in Illinois, Jindal suggests that
liberals will eventually try to pass laws designed to pressure churches to
perform same-sex marriage ceremonies against their will. He also will blast
the New Mexico Supreme Court for ruling last August that a wedding
photography business violated the state's Human Rights Act by refusing to
photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony.

"This is the next stage of the assault, and it is only beginning," Jindal
plans to say. "Today, an overwhelming majority of those who belong to a
religious denomination in America - that's more than half the country - are
members of organizations that affirm the traditional definition of marriage.
All of those denominations will be targeted in large and small degrees in
the coming years."

Jindal, a son of Indian immigrants and a convert to Catholicism, notes that
religious persecution led the first pilgrims to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He
speaks poignantly about the role religious groups have played in the push to
abolish slavery and promote civil rights.

"America does not sustain and create faith. Faith created and sustains
America," he is expected to say.

Jindal, whose second term as governor ends in January 2016, is positioning
himself to carry the mantle for social conservatives if he goes forward with
a run for the White House. He was the first prominent politician to decry
A&E for suspending "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson over comments he made
about homosexuality. The network backtracked under pressure from viewers.

"I defended them because they have every right to speak their minds, however
indelicately they may choose to do so," Jindal says of the Robertson family
in his Thursday speech. "The modern left in America is completely intolerant
of the views of people of faith. They want a completely secular society
where people of faith keep their views to themselves."

On March 25, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Hobby Lobby
case.

The religious family that owns the crafts store chain was told it would be
fined $1.3 million a day if it did not cover morning-after pills for its
employees under the Affordable Care Act. The federal government argues that
Hobby Lobby is a for-profit business and thus not protected under the First
Amendment's "free exercise" of religion clause. But the family considers
birth control objectionable on religious grounds.

"The Obama administration's argument ignores these beliefs and treats them
as little more than an inconvenience to its ever-expanding regulatory
state," he will say.

Jindal accuses the Obama administration of misinterpreting the First
Amendment and believing that religious freedom means only the freedom to
worship.

"Under the Obama regime, the president and his allies are intentional in
pursuing these conflicts from the perspective that you must sacrifice your
most sacred beliefs to government the instant you start a business," he will
say.

He notes that all nine Supreme Court justices agreed in the 2012
Hosanna-Tabor decision that federal employment laws do not apply to how
religious organizations select their leaders. But he worries about a flood
of anti-discrimination lawsuits at the state level, like the one in New
Mexico.

"Will churches in America even be able to remain part of the public square
in a time when their views on sin are in direct conflict with the culture
and when expressing those views will be seen as hiding hateful speech behind
religious protections?" Jindal will ask.

Jindal is the latest potential presidential candidate to make the pilgrimage
to Simi Valley, Calif., following Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Kentucky Sen.
Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Each
has offered a vision for where he aspires to lead the party of Reagan.

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels famously called for a "truce" on social
issues when he was considering a 2012 run, and some Washington Republicans
think Jindal's talk will only embolden Democrats to run their "war on women"
playbook. Jindal, however, argues that now's the time for social
conservatives to take a stand.

"In practical terms, a truce would only amount to those who value religious
liberty laying down their arms," Jindal says in the speech. "Our religious
freedom was won over the course of centuries of persecution and blood, and
we should not surrender them without a fight."

Jindal notes that pharmacists are already protected from needing to fill
prescriptions for birth control if they object on religious grounds. He
wants to extend this principle to other professions.

He praises states such as Kansas and Kentucky for enacting religious liberty
protections, which adopt strict standards in the state constitutions, either
by amendment or judicial decision. The Kentucky law, which passed over the
Democratic governor's veto, requires proof of a compelling government
interest before any state or local law can force citizens to act in
opposition to their religious beliefs.

"These laws are a good start, but we need more of them," Jindal will say.
"We must enshrine in our state laws strong legal protections for churches,
religious organizations and individual believers. No church or church
affiliated organization or individuals whose business is run in a manner
consistent with their faith practices should be required by the state to
take steps in conflict with their religion. Nor should they be legally
punished for how they treat marital arrangements outside the teachings of
their faith."

A key theme of the speech is that religious pluralism must be protected on
principle, regardless of someone's view on abortion or gay marriage.

"It is unmistakable that most of the Obama administration's attacks on
religious liberty are aimed at conservative Christians," Jindal is to say,
"but the fact is that our religious liberties are designed to protect people
of all faiths."



 
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