Iowa is falling further behind other states in terms of test scores, spending on public education, healthy weight, and equitable criminal justice.
But we are leading the pack for states that make certain groups feel like they no longer belong here.
Gov. Kim Reynolds stated that “religious rights have increasingly come under attack” upon signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Senate File 2095 into law. But this begs the question who is attacking religion? Is it the religious people speaking out against hateful laws, many using Scripture to show these rights are not embodied in holy texts? Or the people stirring up hate and taking away rights of others in the name of religion?
It is important to have diversity of thought and opinion. The First Amendment still is a thing. But the rights based on certain beliefs are being elevated, and this elevation is being used to erode the rights of Iowans who were born a different color or love or live differently than what is considered acceptable by dominant society.
But to be clear, the only way religion is being attacked is using it as an excuse to harm, belittle, and persecute marginalized communities.
And let’s be precise in our language, attack from their standpoint is too strong a word to describe the reality of public pushback on the seeds of hate and fear that are being sown in our state.
Proclaimed religious beliefs are now legally allowed to be used to discriminate against other protected classes. These “beliefs” are used to justify categorizing certain groups as “sinful” or worthy of discrimination on the basis of some inkling their God would want them to distance themselves from others.
For those not familiar with the term, othering is “the act of treating someone as if they are not part of a group and are different in some way.” Othering is harmful to society as it exacerbates existing social division and negatively impacts the economy in numerous ways. We have seen this with the threat of some businesses and professionals to leave our state.
All this matters, of course, to those to whom the psychological turmoil and dehumanization of Iowan’s who are othered is not enough to justify outrage.
Othering has been used to defend atrocities and oppression for centuries. Watching the suffering occurring in multiple theatres around the world, it is difficult to understand how genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the innocent civilian casualties do not tear our hearts apart. Maybe it is protective? Some shield themselves from the news or turn to other entertainment and or to the latest scandalous event as it is too much pain to process.
But what is particularly troubling is the justification for mass killing across the globe or the extreme dehumanization of our neighbors here at home, because they are different.
We can hear it in the grocery store line. During sermons at some religious institutions. On public transportation or at public restaurants. “Well, if they just …” “They struck first …” And even, “but they are just different from us, their values are not the same and they are just not right.”
Having traveled extensively, I have heard firsthand the stories of locals in other countries struggling to piece together multiple jobs to afford the most basic of housing. Housing costs have skyrocketed because wealthy foreigners, many of whom are Americans, are buying second homes or investment properties. It is OK for us to disrupt the housing markets of others, but others may not come here to seek a better life for their children. Some insist that they would be fine with immigration if the others “do it the legally,” but fail to acknowledge these laws were made by and for those who have the birthright and access to make this possible. The glaring difference from us doing it elsewhere and others trying to make their way here is that research shows that immigrants to America have a positive benefit to our society, whether they come legally or otherwise.
We are coming to the end of a golden era of American power and prosperity. If man made or natural disaster were to strike our country, what would we do? Pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make do even when futile, or try to find a better life for our family elsewhere? Like our wealthier countrymen are already doing on foreign soil?
For those who wanted to curtail health care, specify what bathroom others can use, what sports they can play, and insist on their being outed, how would they feel if their child made the brave decision to live their authentic self as someone who would be othered? How would they handle the depression and the fear their loved one now faces in this state of intolerance?
Religious principles — and especially the teaching of Jesus — of feeding the hungry, protecting immigrants, and treating others with dignity were nowhere to be seen in many other policy decisions made this year.
The God or other religious entities that many of us grew up with hold love as the most important religious principle. In fact, the “steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.”
Iowa doesn’t feel like a place of steadfast love and endless mercies.
This God or any other deity must be ashamed and frustrated by acts of hate and cruelty in their name. This is the real attack on religion.
It is time for Iowa legislators and their constituents “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Chris Espersen is a Gazette editorial fellow. chris.espersen@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
But we are leading the pack for states that make certain groups feel like they no longer belong here.
Gov. Kim Reynolds stated that “religious rights have increasingly come under attack” upon signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Senate File 2095 into law. But this begs the question who is attacking religion? Is it the religious people speaking out against hateful laws, many using Scripture to show these rights are not embodied in holy texts? Or the people stirring up hate and taking away rights of others in the name of religion?
It is important to have diversity of thought and opinion. The First Amendment still is a thing. But the rights based on certain beliefs are being elevated, and this elevation is being used to erode the rights of Iowans who were born a different color or love or live differently than what is considered acceptable by dominant society.
But to be clear, the only way religion is being attacked is using it as an excuse to harm, belittle, and persecute marginalized communities.
And let’s be precise in our language, attack from their standpoint is too strong a word to describe the reality of public pushback on the seeds of hate and fear that are being sown in our state.
Proclaimed religious beliefs are now legally allowed to be used to discriminate against other protected classes. These “beliefs” are used to justify categorizing certain groups as “sinful” or worthy of discrimination on the basis of some inkling their God would want them to distance themselves from others.
For those not familiar with the term, othering is “the act of treating someone as if they are not part of a group and are different in some way.” Othering is harmful to society as it exacerbates existing social division and negatively impacts the economy in numerous ways. We have seen this with the threat of some businesses and professionals to leave our state.
All this matters, of course, to those to whom the psychological turmoil and dehumanization of Iowan’s who are othered is not enough to justify outrage.
Othering has been used to defend atrocities and oppression for centuries. Watching the suffering occurring in multiple theatres around the world, it is difficult to understand how genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the innocent civilian casualties do not tear our hearts apart. Maybe it is protective? Some shield themselves from the news or turn to other entertainment and or to the latest scandalous event as it is too much pain to process.
But what is particularly troubling is the justification for mass killing across the globe or the extreme dehumanization of our neighbors here at home, because they are different.
We can hear it in the grocery store line. During sermons at some religious institutions. On public transportation or at public restaurants. “Well, if they just …” “They struck first …” And even, “but they are just different from us, their values are not the same and they are just not right.”
Having traveled extensively, I have heard firsthand the stories of locals in other countries struggling to piece together multiple jobs to afford the most basic of housing. Housing costs have skyrocketed because wealthy foreigners, many of whom are Americans, are buying second homes or investment properties. It is OK for us to disrupt the housing markets of others, but others may not come here to seek a better life for their children. Some insist that they would be fine with immigration if the others “do it the legally,” but fail to acknowledge these laws were made by and for those who have the birthright and access to make this possible. The glaring difference from us doing it elsewhere and others trying to make their way here is that research shows that immigrants to America have a positive benefit to our society, whether they come legally or otherwise.
We are coming to the end of a golden era of American power and prosperity. If man made or natural disaster were to strike our country, what would we do? Pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and make do even when futile, or try to find a better life for our family elsewhere? Like our wealthier countrymen are already doing on foreign soil?
For those who wanted to curtail health care, specify what bathroom others can use, what sports they can play, and insist on their being outed, how would they feel if their child made the brave decision to live their authentic self as someone who would be othered? How would they handle the depression and the fear their loved one now faces in this state of intolerance?
Religious principles — and especially the teaching of Jesus — of feeding the hungry, protecting immigrants, and treating others with dignity were nowhere to be seen in many other policy decisions made this year.
The God or other religious entities that many of us grew up with hold love as the most important religious principle. In fact, the “steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.”
Iowa doesn’t feel like a place of steadfast love and endless mercies.
This God or any other deity must be ashamed and frustrated by acts of hate and cruelty in their name. This is the real attack on religion.
It is time for Iowa legislators and their constituents “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Chris Espersen is a Gazette editorial fellow. chris.espersen@thegazette.com
Opinion: The ‘attack on Christianity’ is coming from inside the building
The only way religion is being attacked is using it as an excuse to harm, belittle, and persecute marginalized communities
www.thegazette.com
