Januaries tend to bring a spate of bad legislation. Election years are worse than others. This year, there’s a flood—and in one sense it is indeed biblical—of bad bills.
This cyclical inundation is not because legislators expect or even desire much of the legislation to move. Instead, legislators are trying to shore up their base with pandering proposals that have no chance of becoming law. They don’t care that the bill is illegal and a gross violation of the First Amendment and religious freedom. They simply want to be able to brag on the campaign trail that they proposed a bill to give all the state’s wildlife to Jesus.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. If legislators faced a backlash for proposing foolish, deluded legislation—if they were fighting back a wave of calls, emails, and tweets—they might think twice before wasting everyone’s time and money. Instead of using religion as a political cudgel, they might actually get to work and try to do some good.
Read the full story at the Friendly Atheist Blog
