The Equality Act’s Assault on Religious Liberty | Kenneth Craycraft | First Things

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR5, the so-called “Equality Act,” to amend various provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If it passes the Senate and is signed into law by the president, the bill will cause incalculable damage to our society—with a particular assault on women and religious believers. The bill is expressly designed to impose a controversial sexual-ideological scheme on the American public, and to forbid any religiously-based objections to that agenda.The prologue to the bill says its purpose is to “prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and for other purposes.” But as the rest of the bill makes clear, this means prohibiting all disagreement and outlawing biological distinctions. And the “other purposes” include restricting the free exercise of religion. (As I highlighted in a previous column, the bill will also continue to normalize abortion as a medical procedure like any other, and compel physicians and other healthcare providers to participate in abortion despite their moral objections.)Three key provisions of the bill form its essential structure: redefinition of the term “sex” to deny biology; the expansion of the term “public accommodation” to include any place where people gather outside a private residence; and explicit denial of religious freedom and religious-liberty protections.

Source: The Equality Act’s Assault on Religious Liberty | Kenneth Craycraft | First Things