A New Era of Religious Liberties

I am not trying to be alarmist here. Perhaps cases like this will only be isolated and infrequent. I just don't want us to be surprised if situations like this start to happen more often.

Alan at STR.org writes:

The legalization of same-sex marriage will usher in a new era where religious liberties will increasingly become restricted.

In the last year, the state of New Jersey revoked the tax exemption status of a church property because it refused to allow a lesbian couple to perform a civil union on its grounds.

The attorney representing the lesbian couple argued that the church discriminated against his clients and "could no more refuse to accommodate the lesbians than a restaurant owner could refuse to serve a black man." And the court agreed. This is just a hint of what is to come in California.

There’s one word that explains why this will happen: Consistency.

In order for California to be consistent with its new legislation on same-sex marriage, it must restrict the religious liberties of Christians, Jews, and any other group that upholds a one-man-one-woman view of marriage. These groups enjoy privileges and protections given by the state, which now also endorses same-sex marriage. Since the law supports both same-sex marriage and groups who oppose the new legislation, it’s only a matter of time before pro-gay lawyers exploit the inconsistency.

That’s what happened in New Jersey. A tax exempt church refused to allow a same-sex civil union on their grounds and so it was argued that the state subsidized discrimination.

At stake are the tax benefits given by the state to churches, non-profit parachurch groups (i.e. STR) and clergy. But there are other examples with more at stake than tax benefits. And when religious beliefs clash with state laws that protect gay rights, can you guess who wins? Here’s a hint: It's not the party who’s found guilty of "discrimination."