Conservatives re-brand: Pro-religious freedom, not anti-gay

Conservatives want to make it clear: They’re for the right of everyone to practice their religion, period.

But they still want to be able to refuse to sell their products to gay couples or refuse to have same-sex marriages performed in their church. That’s our religious belief, they say, not intolerance.

Saying those things too loudly and too often, though, are usually political poison in general elections, so Republicans are re-branding by offering a different way of expressing such views. Just as tax increases became revenue enhancements and the lethal MX missile was “The Peacekeeper,” the social conservative message is now all about seeking true religious freedom and liberty.

That message achieves several goals. It sidesteps the notion that anyone would discriminate against gays or minorities, and it helps Republicans overcome the image that the party is intolerant.

And it’s good politics. “The religious freedom message does blend into standard Republican attacks on the size of government,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia.

So in spreading this new, carefully crafted message, Republicans remind voters:

– Your right to practice religion is under siege by an intrusive government. “Religious liberty has never been more threatened in America,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told a cheering audience last week at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Washington conference.

– Republicans are the party that better understands why religion matters. “You can’t have strong families with a government that strong-arms families and our faith,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

– Watch out for the cabal of Democrats, the media and even some Republicans who put business interests over religious liberty. “Big business made an unnatural alliance with the radical left,” said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

– The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc must be strengthened. “Why wasn’t that a nine to zero decision?” asked Jindal of the court case that rejected the policy that family businesses needed to provide birth control coverage. The vote was 5-4.

Absent from all this talk is any explicit rejection of gay rights. Conservatives often mention opposition to gay marriage, but now they rarely elaborate. They know polling has shown a majority of Americans now accept such unions.

And party regulars, with an eye toward a 2016 general election they see as winnable, know swing voters would rather focus on economics or national security.

“I haven’t heard a person bring up the religion liberty law all year, except for the candidates,” said Will Rogers, chairman of the Polk County, Iowa, Republican Party.

At the Faith & Freedom conference, audience members were insistent that religious views had nothing to do with discrimination.

“Because I choose not to support something, how does that make me discriminatory?” asked Janet Cain, USA coordinator for the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding & Cooperation. “Embracing an ideology and being tolerant are two different things.”

If anything, it’s liberals who are narrow-minded, said Joani Crane, a New Braunfels, Texas, entrepreneur. “They’re not tolerating anybody’s religion,” she said.

The Republican National Committee has been trying to distance itself from any suggestion the party is intolerant. A national state of the party report after the 2012 election found focus groups complained the party was “narrow minded.”

The image remains hard to shake. “We have made real strides,” said Henry Barbour, a member of the Republican National Committee from Mississippi who was on the panel that wrote the report. “But the reality is that it’s very easy for one lone voice that’s really off key to remind everybody what they don’t like about divisive people.”

The reminders keep coming. In January, the RNC’s executive committee censured Dave Agema, a member of the national committee from Michigan, for what Chairman Reince Priebus called “harmful and offensive rhetoric.”

Agema had posted critical comments about gays, African-Americans and Muslims on his Facebook page and recently linked to a racist article. He countered he is not a racist and did not support the article’s views.

More frightening for Republicans is the fate of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. In March, he signed a religious freedom law that many saw as tolerating discrimination based on sexual orientation. After an uproar, the law was softened a few days later to provide new protection against such discrimination.

Pence is paying a steep price. He was mentioned as a possible Republican presidential contender; that talk is over for now. Instead, he’s fighting for his political life.

The way to survive, said Barbour, is to “fight for your rights in a way that isn’t divisive.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 12:43 PM with the headline "Conservatives re-brand: Pro-religious freedom, not anti-gay."