The recent Indiana version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has advanced alarmingly the personhood of corporations, even commercial for-profit ones, specifically identifying them as a person for the purpose of the act, which is to give persons with religious beliefs relief from burdensome government acts. The federal RFRA did not specifically define what it meant by a person, and so when the Supreme Court heard the Hobby-Lobby case, it decided to rely on the Dictionary Act, which states that unless the context indicates otherwise, a corporation will be considered a person.
This is preposterous. As Kathleen Sibelius so cogently argued, a corporation exists to provide a separation in law and in fact from its owners. It is treated as a person only for the purposes of shielding its owners from personal liability for its actions. If a corporation is a person, it is a souless person undeserving of most of the rights and protections the US Constitution accords natural persons. This is a slippery slope. If we do not take legislative action, we could see the day when Goldman Sachs or Walmart runs for President of the United States.
At a bare minimum, we can begin to redress this by amending the federal RFRA to specifically state that no corporation, limited liability company, or stock company can be considered a person for the purposes of this statute, and I would like to see a more general law passed, though it may need to be (shudder!) a constitutional amendment, that states that no such entity can be construed to exercise religion or hold religious beliefs.
At the Bell n Pomegranate, I want to focus on things of the Spirit and how our beliefs inform our lives in this world. So settle in with a drink of new wine, and put your two cents in with mine. Just remember this is a publick house, and I expect a certain amount of civility; but that does not rule out controversy, nor even passion.
