Fear-based decision-making leads to bad decisions. Every time. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – my church – just provided back-to-back examples of bad decisions based upon fear.
The first example is its decision to endorse the congressional Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), thereby endorsing same-sex marriage. Its origin story arose out of fear that the United States Supreme Court might overturn the Obergefell decision that created a constitutional right for same-sex marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas said boo and, out of fear, supporters of same-sex marriage created the RFMA.
Interestingly, the RFMA does not protect same-sex marriage from Justice Thomas or a majority of the Court. Only fear would make intelligent people think that a statute could get in the way of a court decision. Even a court decision does not get in the way of overturning a decision. Fear created the RFMA and fear also motivated even more intelligent people to jump onboard for its passage.
