NOT THAT LONG AGO...

Slavery ended in December, 1865.  My Grandfather was born in 1868.

Women in America were granted the right to vote in August, 1920.  My Mother was born in 1915.

In March 1999, Alabama, was the last U.S. state to lift the ban on interracial marriage.  I was born in 1935.

In 1960 the Federal Civil Rights Act guaranteed all people the right to “full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodation of any place of public accommodation, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.” On this last day of March, 2015, thirteen  of the United States specifically ban same-sex marriage. Thirty-seven states have legal same-gender marriage.

Joining the bigots of Indiana this week, the legislature of Arkansas, where I was born, passed its own “religious Freedom” bill. The initiative won't become law unless the Republican governor signs the bill.  One wonders how exemption to deny civil rights anywhere in the U.S. on the basis of religious beliefs (Baptist, Methodist, Mormon, Catholic or any other religion) is different from not allowing Sharia Law to be institutionalized to the letter by Muslim communities because it is based in religious teachings. Legislators in many states are being urged to “restore” the legal status of the right to free exercise of religion.  

Buddhism and Civil Justice:

Right and wrong behavior in Buddhism isn’t determined by whether or not a supreme being had established laws governing what should and should not be done…

Right and wrong behavior is generally determined on the basis of the following:

How would I like it if someone did this to me?

Does the act cause harm and regret (in oneself or others) or benefit and joy?

Will the act help or harm the attainment of goals of spiritual liberation?

Is the act motivated by love, generosity and understanding?

The tangerine doesn't have anything to do with religious freedom.  

I'm posting it for no other reason than that I like it.