Is Religious Freedom Really the Issue?

In my last post I considered some legislative attempts to preserve, under the heading of religious freedom, the right of private parties to discriminate. (The most recent example is Mississippi's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act.")

But what, exactly, is religious freedom? Doesn't our understanding of religious freedom depend on our understanding of religion?

Religious Freedom vs Freedom to Discriminate: The Case of Mississippi's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act"

In February, the Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at protecting the "right" of its citizens to discriminate against gays and lesbians on religious grounds. In the wake of cries of segregation, the Kansas State Senate killed it.

A few weeks later, the Arizona governor vetoed a similar bill that had passed both branches of the Arizona legislature.

Earlier this month, both branches of the Mississippi legislature passed its own version of the bill, which the governor promptly signed into law. The law goes into effect in July. Unlike the earlier bills, the Mississippi bill received little media attention--despite actually becoming a law (unlike its predecessors).

Perhaps this is because the Mississippi law is a bit different from the Kansas and Arizona bills.