For anyone who isn't a wingnut or a complete moron, Attorney General Jeff Session's announcement of a religious liberty task force stands as another milepost on the road back to the era of Jim Crow.
Mr. Sessions claims that the purpose of this task force is to protect religious groups from persecution, except, of course, those who pray to a different god in a different way than the white folks down at the Baptist or Methodist congregations.
Religion still stands as one of the last vestiges of public segregation - even more so than suburban school districts.
The real purpose of the task force has nothing to do with protecting those who choose to pray in their own way. The real purpose is to allow groups and organizations to discriminate against those with whom they disagree under the cover of law.
Catholic hospitals and dioceses don't want to provide contraceptive coverage for their female employees because it shocks their religious sensibilities. But these same religious leaders have no problem proclaiming their support for the latest US bombing raid on a non-white country.
Hobby Lobby didn't want to provide contraceptive coverage for their female employees because god told them it was bad. But that didn't stop executives in the company from smuggling religious artifacts out of the Middle East.
A cake shop owner didn't want to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding and he hid behind his hateful religious beliefs. When pressed, he believed in what a preacher told him was meant by a text that had been translated umpteen times from various sources.
The god-fearing hypocrites at protestant churches across the country voted en masse for a man who boasted of degrading women and looking at teenage girls in states of undress. They voted for a man who has been married three times - each time to a woman he had an affair with while married to someone else.
This cry to protect religious freedom can be seen for what it is by anyone who wants to open their eyes and look around them. We are flooded with religious messages by politicians, school officials, sports organizations, government leaders and even our own money.
The real mission of Mr. Session's task force is to provide cover for those who wish to discriminate against gays, foreigners, blacks, non-English speakers and anyone else who doesn't fit into the mold of 1950's America.
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