FACT: Indiana’s RFRA is NOT “just like 19 other states’ RFRA”

Your conservative uncle’s Facebook posts are wrong, wrong, wrong. (So share this post passive-aggressively.)

If you read and compare individual state statutes, you’ll note that Indiana’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has two distinct features that the federal RFRA and most of the others states’ RFRAs do not.

ONE: Indiana’s version law explicitly allows any business to draw upon their right to “the free exercise of religion” — regardless of any laws in place. In other words, the church trumps the state … and they can act as a church if they don’t want to do business with someone they deem outside their faith.

How’s it’s different: The federal RFRA doesn’t allow that. Ditto any of the state RFRAs with the exception of Texas and South Carolina. Further, Pennsylvania and Louisiana explicitly exclude businesses from RFRA protections. (That actually surprised me, Louisiana.)

TWO: Indiana’s RFRA bars anyone from being able to sue a business on the grounds of discrimination in instances where religion is used as an excuse to deny goods and services. Remember the lawsuit that went all the way to the New Mexico Supreme Court after a photographer refused services to a gay couple? In the end, the gay couple won … and they had the court system to thank.

How’s it’s different: In Indiana, you now can’t sue anyone for refusing to serve you if they claim doing so violates their religious freedoms. In other states with RFRA, you can.