May 2016 Church & State - May 2015

Miss. Adopts Sweeping Discrimination Measure

  AU admin

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) signed a broadly worded bill into law in April that allows government employees, corporations, individuals, healthcare providers and non-profit organizations to use religion as a justification to discriminate against same-sex couples, single mothers, divorcees and anyone who has had sex outside of marriage.

According to National Public Radio, Bryant claimed on Twitter that he signed the bill, H.B. 1523, “to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions…from discriminatory action by state government.”

Americans United disagreed. In a statement to the media, AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn criticized the move.

“Mississippi is trying to legalize unequal treatment,” Lynn said. “This goes against everything the United States stands for. It’s reminiscent of an earlier time in the state’s history and must not be allowed to stand.”

AU, which had opposed the bill in the state legislature, asserts that it is vulnerable to a legal challenge.

BREAKING NEWS

Americans United & the National Women’s Law Center file suit to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans.

Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state. Americans United and the National Women’s Law Center—the leading experts in religious freedom and gender justice—have joined forces with thirteen clergy from six faith traditions to challenge Missouri’s abortion bans as unconstitutionally imposing one narrow religious doctrine on everyone.


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