Being a good religious practitioner doesn't entitle you to be a bigot.  That's the message being delivered to government officials in Indiana this week.

        Indiana's recently passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act was the bomb and Gov. Mike Pence and the state legislature lit the fuse of this explosive tale which has dominated headlines for the past week.

        The new law was intended to set a legal standard for cases involving clashes between a person's exercise of religion and state laws.  Apparently, the law was intended to keep state government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion, unless there is a compelling governmental interest at stake and it is pursued by the least-restrictive means.  The law didn't mandate any particular outcome but simply provide a test for the courts in those instances when a person's exercise of religion clashes with a law.

        But, in their haste to push the legislation, officials stepped on the toes of people of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and trans-gender (LGBT) community, among others.  The cries of disdain were quickly heard from "sea to shining sea."

        Cities and states rushed to boycott official travel to Indiana, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) threatened to move their headquarters out of the state, many suggested that the NCAA move the Final Four series of their "March Madness" basketball tournament out of the state.  From his ESPN perch, basketball bad boy "Sir" Charles Barkley said, "This isn't about Democrats or Republicans or liberals or conservatives … Mostly it's just about people knowing BS when they see it."   Heck, even Miley Cirus twerked, um tweeted, her condemnation of Indiana's new law and Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook strongly denounced it as well.

        The legislation did have a hole in it and the concern and dissapproval was brought on by the government officials themselves.  Next time, maybe they'll read the legislation and make sure they understand it before they act on it, and not try to handoff the controversy to the judicial branch to make a decision. 

It reminds me of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's famous 2010 quote: "We have to pass the Health Care Bill so you can find out what's in it."  

        How can you pass a law that you haven't read or understand?

        Over the past week we have read or heard that 19 other states have similar protections, and that they are modeled on a federal version of the law passed in 1993.  But the difference is that Indiana's version applies to private suits.

        Pence didn't do himself or his state any favors with his interview performances over the past week.  However, the governor and Indiana legislature are doing the right thing by revisiting the recently passed law and promising to make changes to ensure that legal bigotry cannot thrive in the Hoosier state and that injustice does not pose as justice in their decisions.

        We can all tone it down a bit while we await the news (promised quickly) about Indiana's fix to the law.

        Unfortunately, practicing tolerance includes waiting and watching while government officials acknowledge and work to correct their mistakes.