Mar 31, 2015 3 min read

If the “religious freedom” law that landed on the books in Indiana last week were a Broadway play, it would be one of those notorious multimillion-dollar flops that leave critics jeering, audiences scrambling for fruit to hurl at the stage and producers bringing the curtain down on opening night so some dignity can be salvaged.

Unfortunately, however, Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act has broader consequences than theatergoers having a bad night out and well-off investors burning a few bucks. Despite all the protestations by Gov. Mike Pence and some lawmakers that the law is not meant to sanction discrimination, or that it vaguely resembles other religious freedom statutes that have been approved with little fanfare over the last couple of decades, the intent of the law is crystal clear – with the Hoosier State’s ban on gay marriage having been overturned in the fall, it is meant to give cover to business owners and other individuals who want to continue to discriminate against gays and lesbians under the guise of “religious freedom.”

To wit, if a lawsuit were filed against, say, a baker who declined to make a cake for a gay couple’s marriage ceremony, the baker could claim that doing so would have infringed on his or her “religious freedom.” Arguably, it could also bring to Indiana situations like those America hasn’t seen since the days when blacks were chased away from segregated restaurants in the Deep South – a manager of an eatery could conceivably argue serving coffee and hash browns to someone who is gay would infringe on their religious rights.

It’s an invitation to hate and chaos.

We also can’t resist noting many of the people who support such laws are the same ones who try to gin up fear and hatred of Muslims by suggesting Sharia law is advancing across the land. Will the proponents of Indiana’s law go to the mat for a Muslim shopkeeper who refuses service to a woman who is not wearing a headdress?

With gay marriage becoming ever more widely accepted – the speed at which Americans have come to embrace it has been astonishing – and gays and lesbians being welcomed as neighbors, colleagues and friends, the timing of the measure’s approval has been exceptionally bad for Pence and his allies. When he was interviewed by host George Stephanopoulos on ABC-TV’s “This Week” on Sunday, Pence could not answer when he was asked six times whether the law would make it legal for businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians. But Pence, right now, is stuck between the competing and incompatible demands of two key Republican constituencies: social conservatives, who want the closet door to be shut once again; and business leaders, who worry that the “religious freedom” law makes Indiana look like an oasis for intolerance that should be avoided by anyone with entrepreneurial energy or talent.

That viewpoint was summed up by Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, in a Sunday op-ed in The Washington Post. He pointed out that similar bills are being debated in Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina and “these bills under consideration truly will hurt jobs, growth and the economic vibrancy of parts of the country where a 21st-century economy was once welcomed with open arms.”

Pence and some lawmakers in Indiana suggested they are going to “amend” or “clarify” the law. The best course of action would be repealing it entirely, and other states learning from Indiana’s mistake.