Arizona governor rescues state
“Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”
Exodus 21:24
I’ve formed my own religion.
I’ve based it solely on one passage in the Bible – “Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
I was planning to take my religion to Arizona, where the state legislature seemed to believe its OK, not only to freely observe religious beliefs – but to practice them any which way you’d like.
Arizona’s Republican legislators recently concocted SB-1062, which, in part, read; “Exercise of religion” means the practice or observance of religion, including the ability to act or refusal to act in a manner substantially motivated by a religious belief whether or not the exercise is compulsory or central to a larger system of religious belief.”
That seems innocuous enough to me. I’m wearing my own religion on my sleeve these days.
When I planned to arrive in Arizona, if that bill became law, I could’ve driven directly to any dentist’s office; wait until they extracted somebody’s tooth and then I’d remove one of theirs. (“A tooth for a tooth,” remember)
It really doesn’t matter to me that the same passage of the Bible in Exodus 21:24, is repeated in the New Testament (Matthew 5:38-5:39) as part of the Sermon on the Mount, to mean something quite different than the calls for retribution. (“Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also”)
Arizona would have allowed me to practice and observe my religion according to my personal interpretation of the Bible. Arbiters of true biblical intent need not apply. I was more concerned about my interpretations of it.
SB-1062, which would have allowed any business owner to refuse service to anybody who isn’t, say, heterosexual, without any interference from any governmental body.
Proof Arizona just loves to court economic suicide.
Back in the early 1990s, Arizona lost hundreds of millions of dollars after it refused to observe Martin Luther King Day.
In 1987, the state’s Democratic governor, Bruce Babbitt, established a state holiday honoring King – by executive order.
His successor, Evan Mecham, a Republican, who’d campaigned against the holiday, rescinded Babbitt’s executive order not long after he took office.
After Mecham was removed from office (he’d been impeached, and then indicted after he was found to have been involved in state funding irregularities), the state put a King Holiday measure on the ballot. That effort narrowly failed.
Arizona was still among the last states in the nation without a holiday honoring the civil rights leader.
That was enough for the NFL, which had warned against such stubbornness, to move the state’s planned 1993 Super Bowl game to Pasadena, Calif.
The folks out there reaped the benefits of an estimated $183 million worth of new business, with that Super Bowl in their backyard.
After Arizona finally relented and adopted a King Holiday, Arizona became the scene of the 1996 Super Bowl game, featuring (you’ll remember) the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys.
That put lots of money in the coffers of local businesses – an estimated $300 million.
So with national storm clouds gathering over the state, because of its ridiculous new bill, the NFL hinted it might act again.
If that bill had been signed, perhaps there wouldn’t be a Super Bowl game there next year, and that could have meant the state might lose as much as a half billion dollar bounty all because the Republican-led legislature fueled a nationwide protest.
Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer, quaking under the weight of a national outcry, vetoed the bill.
She saved Republicans a lot of heat (and Arizona certainly doesn’t need more heat), and her state a lot of money.
But the sentiments that led to the proposed anti-gay discrimination – in the name of “religious freedoms,” still exist.
But I’ve decided to stay in Pennsylvania, and practice my religion here. Phoenix ophthalmologists are safe – for now at least.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net