Submitted to the Lexington Herald-Leader Op-Ed Page, but never published.
House Bill 70 passed the Kentucky House of Representatives by a vote of 82-17 and just passed the Kentucky Senate by a vote of 17-12. Kentucky Governor Paul Patton must now decide whether to continue Kentucky's fling with bigotry, or stop it before the state earns a newly-deserved reputation for discrimination against its own citizens who just don't happen to be fundamentalist Christians.
HB 70 is an act that amends Kentuckys public accomodation law to allow churches to refuse the use of their public facilities by outside organizations whose beliefs or activities would not be consistent with the religious tenets of the church. The act forbids discrimination on the basis of disability, race, color, or national origin, but purposefully permits--for the first time--discrimination on the basis of philosophical or religious belief and sexual orientation.
House Bill 70's history is simple. Bullittsburg Baptist Assembly Camp in Boone County, Kentucky, is a public accomodation that has been leased to non-Baptist organizations in the past. As such, Kentucky law does not allow the Bullittsburg Camp to discriminate against outside groups in the rental of their property. Camp Quest, the country's first summer camp for the children of secular humanists, leased the camp facilities for a week in 1996 and again in 1997. Camp Quest was founded by a Boone County couple, Edwin and Helen Kagin, since almost all summer camping opportunities are run by religious organizations or the Boy Scouts, both of whom discriminate against non-believing children. Despite some minor problems, relations between Camp Quest and the staff of the Bullittsburg Baptist Assembly Camp were cordial, but it became clear that Camp Quest was not really welcomed at the Baptist facility, and it moved to a location in Ohio in 1998, where it remains and will hold its fifth session this summer.
In January of this year, the Kagins were surprised to learn that the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association (NKBA), a coalition of 66 northern Kentucky Baptist churches that owned the Bullittsburg Camp facility, had been unhappy with the lease arrangement to the secular humanists, feeling imposed upon by Kentuckys public accomodation law. The NKBA therefore asked Kentucky Representative Tom Kerr (D-Kenton), a fellow Baptist and member of the NKBA Pro Bono Panel, to amend the law to permit the churches to refuse to rent their public accommodation to organizations that held beliefs they opposed. In the case of Camp Quest, the Baptists complained that the children were being taught to put their faith in science and reason, not God, and such things as evolution, critical thinking, and questioning unreliable authorities. The secular humanists non-belief in God was certainly not consistent with the religious tenets of the Baptists.
Although the purpose of the law is to prevent humanists, atheists, gays, and people of other religions from being allowed to rent church property that is routinely rented to others, the NKBA doesn't see HB 70 as discrimination, but rather as amending the current law to reinforce part of its First Amendment right, "that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The Baptists believe the current public accommodation law is too broad and infringes on their religious freedom. They believe it compromises their religious beliefs to oblige them to rent their public facility to secular humanists. HB 70, they say, is only trying to restore what the current law has taken away.
The Baptists and the Kentucky Legislature, however, have things backward. House Bill 70 violates the First Amendment by establishing religion, and will surely be overturned when it is challenged in the courts. Kentucky citizens, Christian and non-Christian alike, will foot the bill for passing and defending this unconstitutional act of bigotry. The legislation gives churches and other religious organizations the special right to discriminate, in matters of public commerce, against people who hold beliefs that the churches oppose. This violates our constitutional separation of church and state.
The Northern Kentucky Baptists wish to enjoy their constitutionally-protected religous freedom. Well, they do, and no one is infringing upon it. How does renting their camp facility to secular humanists jeopardize their religious freedom? Do humanist rental fees have a secret subversive character that the fees of other organizations do not have? Are Baptist children being forced to attend the summer camp along with the humanist children? Does the presence of humanist children in their camp for a week cause their adult Christian faith to weaken and wither at a distance? Does the proximity of people who put their "faith in science and reason, not God," cause the camp buildings to absorb some sort of atheist paranormal energy that radiates the Baptists the following month during their picnic? I don't think so.
Through history, Christians have been accused of discriminating against women, Jews, Moslems, African-Americans, gays, pagans, freethinkers, humanists, and many other minorities. These accusations have merit, and now we witness the public spectacle of adult Kentuckians declaring their legal right to discriminate, and making this right to be bigots manifest in the laws of the State. It's a little scary, especially if you are one of the minorities. One might expect the Christians in the Kentucky legislature to exhibit some positive religious attribute, such as "Christian charity" or "love thy neighbor," but apparently Christian tolerance only goes so far in Kentucky. Did the legislators ever stop and ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?"
It is wrong to discriminate against humans because of their beliefs, ethnicity, color, gender, and sexual orientation--because they are human! Such discrimination unethically empowers and benefits those not subject to the discrimination, including those who did not actively promote the discrimination or may not even agree with it. The current law states that if a private organization rents its property to outside groups, it can't discriminate, but House Bill 70 permits religious groups to discriminate against those with different beliefs. This bill is not only unconstitutional and un-American, it is an abomination. It endorses bigotry by Christians against non-Christians, people who are otherwise kind, industrious, honest, patriotic, law-abiding, and good citizens. Jews, Moslems, gays, humanists, pagans, and other minorities in Kentucky are disadvantaged because of this bill, and will oppose it, but even Christians should oppose it and thereby not take immoral advantage of state-mandated discrimination.