With right-wing opposition to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) becoming increasingly unhinged, it was no surprise that Family Research Council president Tony Perkins warned members in an email today that ENDA would destroy businesses, entire communities, and the First Amendment.
Perkins writes that ENDA, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to current non-discrimination protections such as race, religion, gender and disability, would “banish” Christians from society and have them “stripped of their livelihood” while turning America into Nazi Germany.
They’re pushing ENDA again — the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — which would strip Americans of their religious liberties. No longer will an employer be able to make employment decisions based on what qualities or characteristics are most relevant to a particular job. Instead, ENDA will grant special rights and privileges, special power over an employer’s religious convictions, to an entire group of people — simply because of their preference for a certain type of sexual activity.
This is the most perverse distortion of the Constitution of the United States imaginable. And is more likely to impact you personally than ever before. Because ENDA is the federal government forcing a pro-homosexual point of view upon the entire (supposedly “free”) marketplace.
…
You enjoy working in a Christian-owned business, for example. It’s a great place to work, a good family-friendly environment. If your company does any work with the federal government, or if you’re a subcontractor to a business holding a federal contract, you could suddenly find that your company’s policies, if they reflect biblical views and values, are considered a violation — and the company could lose that contract. Company revenues plummet. People get laid off. Maybe the company has to close its doors altogether and you are out of work.
As businesses are boarded up, whole communities will be affected. But the powerful anti-Christian lobby will dust off their hands: mission accomplished.
ENDA takes the chilling concept of “Big Brother” one diabolical step further . . . to “Big Bully.” The federal government becomes the “enforcer” for liberal activists, driving anyone with a traditional view of natural marriage into the shadows … because of the threat of a federal lawsuit.
You no longer enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or freedom of association. The First Amendment is dead to you — because of your biblical views on the sin of homosexuality.
…
If the federal government can coerce you to comply with its views . . . cooperate with its policies . . . contribute to its plans for the transformation of America . . .
. . . well, sadly, this looks more and more like totalitarianism. We only have to look back to 1930 in Germany, or the USSR in the 1950s, to see what happens when leaders impose a totalitarian state on the people.
…
They are pushing for America to conform to their ideology. Freedom of speech and religion have no place in their vision. We can’t let it happen.
…
. . . then anyone in America can be targeted … called out … pilloried in the public square . . . stripped of their livelihood … branded as a “bigot” and banished from “society.”
