VOA标准英语2015--Americans Clash Over Religious-Freedom Laws

Americans Clash Over Religious-Freedom Laws

Religious-freedom measures in Indiana and Arkansas have focused national attention on cultural divisions between the country’s two main political parties, while igniting heated debate between liberal and conservative activists¹.

Protesters in Indiana called on state lawmakers to repeal² a religious-freedom law that they said discriminated⁴ against gay and lesbian business customers. But Crystal O'Connor, whose family owns a pizza restaurant in Indiana, said the law protected establishments that do not support gay marriage.

"If a gay couple was to come in, and they wanted our business to provide them pizzas for a wedding, we would have to say no," O'Connor said.

The controversy⁵ turned into a national debate after most Republican presidential hopefuls supported Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Governor Mike Pence defended the measure, which gave individuals and businesses the legal ground to defend themselves against claims of discrimination.

"The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was about religious liberty, not about discrimination," Pence said.

But a national backlash along with business pressure forced Indiana's and Arkansas' Republican-controlled state legislatures to change their legislation. The measures now have provisions in them that explicitly⁶ prohibit business owners from denying services to gay and lesbian customers.

Republican presidential candidateTed Cruz sought to turn the issue into a cultural war against Democrats⁷.

"Standing⁸ up for the very first liberty protected in the First Amendment⁹ [of the Constitution] is now viewed as inconsistent with the partisan¹⁰ political objective of the Democratic Party," the Texas senator said.

At the White House, President Obama's spokesman, Josh Earnest, disagreed with the way Republicans have cast the debate.

"This has not been a partisan or even a particularly political dispute," he said. "It's business interests, it's other Republicans, it is other leaders in the faith community who have stepped forward and said, particularly in Indiana, that this law is a terrible idea."

In Arkansas, there was criticism from Wal-Mart and smaller business owners who said religion is not an excuse to discriminate³ against gays or anyone else.

"It has a lot of potential to be very bad for the state of Arkansas, for business and just for the state's perception," said Kelli Marks, an Arkansas business owner. "The country is laughing at us. We don't need to pass this."

Twenty U.S. states have religious-freedom laws.  In most cases, the measures were adopted by Republican-controlled legislatures and signed by governors seeking support from conservative evangelicals.  Republican analyst¹¹ Scot Faulkner said the cultural war over religious-freedom laws could hurt Republican efforts to broaden support for the party.

"When you think of Republicans, they are supposed to be for limited government, so they shouldn’t be putting an asterisk¹² on that and saying limited government except when it comes to looking at what people are doing in their bedrooms,” he said.

Not everyone is happy with changes to the laws, with both conservative and liberal activists vowing¹³ to continue the fight over the political boundaries of religious freedom.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

3 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

4 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

10 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 asterisk   

n.星号，星标

参考例句：

• The asterisk refers the reader to a footnote.星号是让读者参看脚注。
• He added an asterisk to the first page.他在第一页上加了个星号。

13 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。