Religious Conservative Groups Ask Court To Strike Down RFRA Fix

Religious conservative groups faced off in court Thursday against the state and four Hoosier cities over a change to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. 

Normally, in a court hearing about discrimination, someone is trying to argue they don’t discriminate. Attorney Jim Bopp, who represents Indiana’s most high-profile religious conservative groups, wants to convince a judge that his clients do and will discriminate, specifically against LGBTQ people.

“Because that is so fundamentally contrary to their message, they are justified under the First Amendment to exclude them from their programs or from employment,” Bopp says.

The “RFRA fix” Bopp wants struck down clarified that the law’s religious freedom defense couldn’t be used to justify denying service to someone based on characteristics such as age, race, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Attorneys for the state and four Indiana cities say the religious conservative groups don’t have a case ironically, because there’s no evidence they’ve actually discriminated against anyone.

Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.