John Bel Edwards: “you can use whatever rhetoric you want, but at the end of the day, this amendment not only legalizes religious…”

“you can use whatever rhetoric you want, but at the end of the day, this amendment not only legalizes religious discrimination in America, it pays for that discrimination using American taxpayer dollars. It is disappointing to me, and I think to the vast majority of Americans, that on the same day we are pleading with Iraqis to provide religious freedom to their citizens, the Republican leadership and this House, with this amendment, is saying it is okay to force an American citizen to choose between his or her faith and his or her job. They are saying it is okay for American citizens to have to pass someone else's private religious test to qualify for a publicly funded job. I do not think most Americans are going to think that is okay. I think they are going to be offended by it. I think people of faith are going to be offended by the fact that some in this House think that groups have got to be able to discriminate based on religion in order to make their programs work. The fact is, this amendment supports and allows and subsidizes racial discrimination in job hiring, and no amount of rhetoric can deny that. I do not know how the majority can stand up and say it is okay to put up a sign, paid for by tax dollars, saying no Jews nor Catholics need apply here for a federally funded job, even though they might have a Ph.D. in education and 20 years of experience helping children get a head start in life; they can still put up that sign.…”