Apple CEO: Religious Freedom Laws ‘Pretending To Defend’ Religion

Apple chief executive and Alabama native Tim Cook speaks during an Alabama Academy of Honor ceremony at the state Capitol Monday, Oct. 27, 2014, in Montgomery, Ala. Cook and seven others including University of Alaba... Apple chief executive and Alabama native Tim Cook speaks during an Alabama Academy of Honor ceremony at the state Capitol Monday, Oct. 27, 2014, in Montgomery, Ala. Cook and seven others including University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban were inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) MORE LESS
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Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote in a Sunday op-ed that he opposes religious freedom laws like the legislation recently passed in Indiana, and argued that the bills are veiled efforts to discriminate.

“There’s something very dangerous happening in states across the country,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “A wave of legislation, introduced in more than two dozen states, would allow people to discriminate against their neighbors.”

“These bills rationalize injustice by pretending to defend something many of us hold dear. They go against the very principles our nation was founded on, and they have the potential to undo decades of progress toward greater equality,” Cook continued.

Cook promised that Apple will remain “open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love.”

“This isn’t a political issue. It isn’t a religious issue. This is about how we treat each other as human beings. Opposing discrimination takes courage. With the lives and dignity of so many people at stake, it’s time for all of us to be courageous,” he wrote.

In a Friday tweet, Cook signaled that he opposed discriminatory religious freedom legislation by warning Arkansas not to pass legislation similar to the law signed in Indiana.

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