Religious Exemptions and Public Policy: Freedom to Discriminate, Genevieve Cato, Burnt Orange Report, July 26, 2014
Key to the legal fight to allow discrimination under the guise of religious freedom is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which, under Justice Alito, has become the primary tool for justifying these rulings of religious exemptions. It was also the basis for a ruling by a Texas judge in December, when she determined that three religious universities in Texas should not be required to cover methods of birth control they believe cause abortions.
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The Catholic bishops had great success with what are called “conscience clauses,” which are laws created to allow certain employees to refuse service if it violates their religious belief. The most widely-used example of this is allowing pharmacists to refuse to sell birth control to consumers if it is against their religion. But this is completely counter to the way many Catholics understand the concept of religious conscience in the first place. “Individuals have conscience,” Smith explained, “not institutions.” Further, conscience is not about enforcing your beliefs on another person by refusing to sell someone their medical prescription. It is an individual journey for each Catholic person. This is why Smith refuses to use the term “conscience clause” and instead calls them what they are: “refusal clauses.” [Emphasis in original.]
Face It, Women: The NFL Does Not Give a Shit About You, Erin Gloria Ryan, Jezebel, July 26, 2014
Most people with half a brain and a little human empathy recognized the fuckery inherent in the NFL’s appallingly tone deaf punishment, and its appallingly dumb meathead defense of said punishment. The league is made up of, governed by, and boosted by people who very publicly think very little of women.
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What happened this week was some piping hot bullshit, sure, but anyone who was shocked by the NFL’s leniency toward a domestic abuser is naive, forgetful, or not paying attention.
Throughout its nearly hundred years of existence, the NFL has had countless opportunities to prove that it valued women as human beings, as anything more than a less-than-tapped market. And every single time, it has failed spectacularly.
