A Scary Reality for Indiana's Christian Businesses

INDIANAPOLIS – Media scrutiny over Indiana's religious freedom law may have died down, but Christian business owners still face a big question: Will they be forced to choose between their faith and keeping their livelihood?

Walk into a business these days in Indiana and you may see welcoming signs about serving everyone, but don't be misled. 

This isn't just famous Hoosier hospitality on display. It's a show of support against the religious freedom law that gay activists felt was discriminatory.
 
"We never thought this law was going to be all that controversial," Micah Clark, executive director of American Family Association of Indiana, said.

Clark played a major role in the original law's passage, which was intended to provide additional religious liberty legal protections to those who are sued.

He says the updated version adds sexual orientation protection beyond anything provided by the state. That means Christian business may not be able to use this new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, known as RFRA.
 
"It's not only going to be harder in certain places," he said. "You're not going to be allowed to use RFRA because they've basically taken a map of Indiana and cut parts out of it where cities have these ordinances and said RFRA cannot apply in these cases."

David Brody: What's the end game then for gay and lesbian activists?" CBN's David Brody asked.

"They simply want to put sexual orientation and gender identity into our civil rights code as if sexual behavior is the same as a benign genetic trait like skin color. I don't see sexual behavior that way," Clark replied.
 
The controversial Indiana law written right here at the Statehouse in Indianapolis has Christian business owners trying to figure out their next move as they navigate the world of both discrimination and religious liberty.
 
 Casey Sampson and his Christian family own Samson Family Leather, a shop located north of Indianapolis. 

"We don't want to discriminate against anybody because everybody is created equal on this planet and our country," Sampson said.
 
He's not quite sure what to expect under the new law. One thing's for sure. He's not going to sacrifice his Christian beliefs.
 
"I don't want to put something that is specifically contrary to my beliefs because I have to hand make that," Sampson explained.

"When I'm stamping into this belt, 'God is great' and then somebody else wants to come in and say, 'Satan is great,' that's going to hurt me," he said, adding, "That's very personal."
 
But now, if Sampson says no, this religious liberty law may not give him further protections in court if he's sued.
 
"If a lawsuit came up and the court ruled against our favor it would devastate our family business," Samson said.
 
This whole situation has made the family rethink how they do business.
 
 "We've honestly put a lot of thought into not doing any custom orders anymore and that will hurt business," he said.

Indiana's reputation has taken a hit as well.  It's gotten so much bad press that the state's economic and tourism agency hired a PR firm this week to encourage businesses to come back to Indiana. 

Right now, the only known commodity is frustration on both sides of this hotly contested issue.