The Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The RFRA. It’s caused more people to freak out in the last 24 hours than the ebola crisis could have ever dreamed. The party of extreme fear-mongering has declared the new law in Indiana as a five-alarm fire and they are pulling out all the stops to make sure that the Hoosier State is viewed as the return of 1955 Alabama. The return of Jim Crowe. The return of segregation.

It’s insulting. It’s insulting to the people that lived in those times and fought those battles. People that were kicked out of restaurants and shoved off buses because of the color of their skin.

But let me draw the clearest distinction possible for you right now as to why these events aren’t remotely the same situations and that no, the return of the Reconstruction Era is not upon us.

No one is being discriminated against in Indiana as a result of this law. No one.

In fact, let me go one step further: none of the people that you’ve heard about on the news who were denied a cake or photography for a gay wedding… none of those people were discriminated against either.

On religious grounds, certain business owners have said they are unwilling to provide their product or service for specific types of events. Period. That’s it. It doesn’t matter if the person that came in asking for the cake or the photography was a straight man, a gay woman, or Steven Crowder in drag.

If a store owner were to say “I’m not willing to serve gay people, get out of my store,” well then one assumes there might be a case. But that’s not what happened in all these situations and that’s not what the RFRA seeks to protect.

Consider this: with gays being executed in other countries, some like Cuba who we’ve just reopened communication with, why would progressives be so focused on civil disputes between engaged couples and bakers?

Because their focus is on making sure that open Christianity is silenced.

Want evidence? Look at the rampant increase in stories like the ones mentioned above. Gay couple seeks photography from Christian organization. Gay couple seeks cake from Christian baker. And yet, common sense tells us that if they know the service provider doesn’t want to provide the service requested, then why would they sue to force them?

If someone making your dinner is forced to make it, do you really want that dinner? Of course not. And none of these people suing bakers and photographers ever wanted their services either.

This was never about getting the cake or the photos or any of the other things people are suing Christians all over the country for.

This is and always has been about putting people out of business for what they believe.

Sure, they’re resorting to boycotts now that a law is being passed to stop their antics, but boycotting is not what they want. They want absolute fealty. Total submission to their point of view codified by law. And total condemnation of Christian values and beliefs.

They warn that “separate but equal” are echoes of the Jim Crowe era. But it the progressives creating a separate but equal dynamic. One group permitted to live their life in public and celebrated. The other group told to hide in the shadows lest their lives be ruined.

It’s been proven over and over again.

Two years ago this week, Erick Erickson coined the phrase, “you will be made to care” as it relates to this issue. I think it’s fair to say he was right.

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**NOTE** The excellent illustration in this post was drawn by a friend of mine who, drawing on current events, decided it would be unwise to reveal his name. Not because he’s famous or holds public office. But simply because believing what he believes is rapidly becoming against the law.