Iowa ranks embarrassingly low in Religious Liberty score after six years of full GOP control

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For six years Republicans have had total control of government in the state of Iowa. The Iowa House? Check. The Iowa Senate? Check. The Governor? Check.

Yet Republicans in Iowa have failed to pass a Religious Freedom & Restoration Act. They’ve failed to protect the religious liberty of Iowans.

Don’t take my word for it, look no further than Iowa’s score when it comes to religious liberty. Religious Liberty In the States gives Iowa a…

Well, what would you guess? What would be a reasonable ranking for Iowa, a state under GOP control for not one, two, three, four, five — but six years.

What would a reasonable expectation be?

Top-10? Top-20? At least top-25?

Iowa ranks 46th. Forty-sixth. That is 46th out of 50.

That is Lia Thomas actually swimming as a male territory.

In other words, that is really bad.

Our state scores just 23 percent on the Religious Liberty in the States Index.

Here is the scorecard, of which every Republican lawmaker should be ashamed of:

Just for comparison’s sake, check out this scorecard:

Do you know which state that is? Which state is only four points worse than Iowa? Which state is ranked 48th, just a couple of spots behind GOP-controlled Iowa?

CALI-FREAKING-FORNIA.

Yes. That is California’s 19 percent, just four points behind Iowa’s 23 percent.

Here is a list of states as bad, or worse, than Iowa:

46. Oregon
48. California
49. West Virginia
50. New York

Guess who is second on the list? Illinois. Florida is fourth. New Mexico is third. Mississippi is No. 1.

By the way, Washington State is fifth.

Some conservative lawmakers have tried, repeatedly, to get RFRA protections passed in Iowa. But to no avail.

While Democrats cannot do a single thing to get RFRA passed in Iowa, it has been “big business” and moderate Republicans who have killed any efforts to strengthen religious liberty for residents of the Hawkeye State.

In fact, one of Principal Financial’s top legislative priorities was stopping RFRA a couple of years ago.

In the Iowa House, it wasn’t until this year that a true RFRA bill was given a subcommittee hearing. And that bill was eventually watered down to where it was no longer a true RFRA bill.

This is perhaps the biggest black eye for Republican lawmakers in Iowa. And it should become a priority for Gov. Kim Reynolds. She has a way of encouraging legislators to act on key issues.

The religious liberty of her fellow Iowans should be near the top of that list.

Author: The Iowa Standard