Articles On Information: Bills on ‘Religious Freedom’ Upset Capitols in Arkansas and Indiana

Bills on ‘Religious Freedom’ Upset Capitols in Arkansas and Indiana

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<img alt="" class="media-viewer-candidate" data-mediaviewer-caption="Protesters at the Arkansas Capitol on Tuesday rallied against a religious freedom bill that critics say could cause discrimination." data-mediaviewer-credit="Danny Johnston/Associated Press" data-mediaviewer-src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/01/us/01RELIGIOUS2jp/01RELIGIOUS2jp-superJumbo.jpg" height="266" itemid="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/01/us/01RELIGIOUS2jp/01RELIGIOUS2jp-master675.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/04/01/us/01RELIGIOUS2jp/01RELIGIOUS2jp-master675.jpg" width="400" /> </div>
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LITTLE
 ROCK, Ark. —  The Arkansas legislature on Tuesday passed its version of
 a bill described by proponents as a religious freedom law, even as 
Indiana’s political leaders struggled to gain control over a growing 
backlash that has led to calls to boycott the state because of criticism
 that its law could be a vehicle for discrimination against gay couples.</div>
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The
 Arkansas bill now goes to the state’s Republican governor, Asa 
Hutchinson, who expressed reservations about an earlier version but more
 recently said he would sign the measure if it “reaches my desk in 
similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states.” But the 
bill already faces a significant corporate backlash, including from Doug
 McMillon, the chief executive of Walmart, the state’s largest 
corporation, who said Tuesday afternoon that Mr. Hutchinson should veto 
it.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In Indiana, Gov. Mike Pence was in a difficult spot trying to satisfy both the <span style="color: black;">business interests that have threatened to punish the state for its law as well as the conservatives who fought for the measure and do not want to see it diluted. </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> Gov. Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, 
says that the religious freedom law passed in the state was never 
intended to give a “license to discriminate” against gay and lesbian 
couples.</a></div>
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<a href="http://articlesoninformation.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">                            Video By Reuters on                                                    Publish Date March 31, 2015.                                                                            Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images. </a></div>
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Mr.
 Pence has said he wants to modify the law, but he has not indicated how
 he could do so without undermining it. He rejected claims that it would
 allow private businesses to deny service to gay men and lesbians and 
said the criticism was based on a “perception problem” that additional 
legislation could fix.</div>
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“I’ve
 come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation 
this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses the
 right to discriminate against anyone,” Mr. Pence, a Republican, said at
 a news conference in Indianapolis.</div>
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He
 acknowledged that the law had become a threat to the state’s reputation
 and economy, with companies and organizations signaling that they would
 avoid Indiana in response. Mr. Pence said he had been on the phone with
 business leaders from around the country, adding, “We want to make it 
clear that Indiana’s open for business.”</div>
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<a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/us/religious-freedom-restoration-act-arkansas-indiana.html?ref=us#story-continues-4">Continue reading the main story</a>
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The
 bill in Arkansas is similar to the Indiana law, with both diverging in 
certain respects from the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. 
That act was passed in 1993 and signed into law by President Bill 
Clinton, Arkansas’s most famous political son.</div>
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But
 the political context has changed widely since then. The law was 
spurred by an effort to protect Native Americans in danger of losing 
their jobs because of religious ceremonies that involved an illegal 
drug, peyote. Now the backdrop is often perceived to be the cultural 
division over <a class="meta-classifier" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships.">same-sex marriage</a>.</div>
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Both
 states’ laws allow for larger corporations, if they are substantially 
owned by members with strong religious convictions, to claim that a 
ruling or mandate violates their religious faith, something reserved for
 individuals or family businesses in other versions of the law. Both 
allow religious parties to go to court to head off a “likely” state 
action that they fear will impinge on their beliefs, even if it has not 
yet happened.</div>
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The
 Arkansas act contains another difference in wording, several legal 
experts said, that could make it harder for the government to override a
 claim of religious exemption. The state, according to the Arkansas 
bill, must show that a law or requirement that someone is challenging is
 “essential” to the furtherance of a compelling governmental interest, a
 word that is absent from the federal law and those in other states, 
including Indiana.</div>
 
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