Indiana State passed a new religious freedom law allowing any company to deny service on grounds of “religious freedom”. Openly gay chief executive officer at Apple inc, Tim Cook, along with other CEOs have exclaimed their disgust about this discriminatory law.
Mike Pence signed the bill into law last Thursday. On Friday Cook tweeted: “Apple is open for everyone. We are deeply disappointed in Indiana’s new law. Around the world, we strive to treat every customer the same – regardless of where they come from, how they worship or who they love.” I believe that Cook’s words would have appealed to the departed Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his Zen Buddhist demeanour.
Salesforce.com Inc’s CEO Marc Benioff has also sided with Cook and tweeted that they would cancel programs that require travel to Indiana. Yelp Inc CEO Jeremy Stoppelman joined in the protest by writing an open letter criticizing the law. Influential business men like these can reach Millions of people by their tweets and other posts on social media. Even with the strong media attention these corporate heavyweights bring, it is still unlikely that the law will be retracted any time soon. With any success we can hope there will be some amendments made to it.
Although the impact of this new law is being debated by legal experts the law has set a new legal standard. There is no doubt that people from all faiths will be bringing religious freedom claims forth in its wake. Opponents to this law say that it will be discriminatory and may be used to deny services to same-sex couples, whereas its supporters say it will keep the government from forcing business owners to act against their religious beliefs.
In an era of human rights and religious freedom it is difficult to ascertain exactly where the line must be drawn. Let’s hope that this infringement on both sides will not be repeated by other Governments around the world. “Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up.” –Bill Gates
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