Two members of Alabama’s U.S. congressional delegation have signed on to legislation intended to protect the religious freedom of those who oppose same-sex unions.
The First Amendment Defense Act (Senate Bill 1598 and House Resolution 2802) was introduced June 17 by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho. The legislation prohibits the federal government from taking “any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, have joined 134 House sponsors and 36 Senate sponsors of the legislation. The bill comes in response to the June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that overturns state bans on gay “marriage.”
‘Troubled’ ruling
Aderholt called the court’s ruling “troubling,” noting questions about how the ruling will affect religious organizations and educational institutions. Aderholt said his concerns extend to the possibility that gay “marriage” advocates will challenge the tax-exempt status of congregations that disagree with the ruling and preach about it from the pulpit.
“We need legislation that makes it clear this type of attack on religious liberties will not be tolerated,” Aderholt said in a statement to The Alabama Baptist. “Our Founding Fathers included religious freedom in the First Amendment for a reason. They wanted to ensure that Americans were always free to practice their faith. This bill was written to protect our precious First Amendment freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”
Alabama Baptist leaders are voicing their support for the effort.
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, said the First Amendment is “being distorted to say something it was never intended to say” and that stronger religious liberty protections are needed.
“If we don’t get these protections, we are going to see our religious liberty continue to slide down a slippery slope,” Godfrey said.
The potential impact of the Supreme Court’s recent 5–4 decision affirming same-sex “marriage” on religious organizations continues to be a topic of debate. The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) says it doesn’t remove the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
“Churches will continue to make their own decisions about what kind of marriage ceremonies they conduct,” BJC General Counsel Holly Hollman said in a June 26 article on the BJC website. “Ministers will not be forced to perform same-sex weddings.”
But questions about religiously affiliated institutions and individuals with religious objections will depend on new fact scenarios and the interplay of a variety of laws, she said.
Godfrey also is concerned about how the ruling may affect Christians in the workplace.
“What if your employer says to you, ‘You go to a church that engages in hate speech because it preaches against homosexuality, so you need to move your membership or lose your job.’ Something needs to be in place to protect our rights,” Godfrey said.
In a July 7 letter urging congressional support of the First Amendment Defense Act, National Religious Broadcasters President Jerry Johnson called the measure a “shield against federal agents who might be tempted to use tax treatment, licensing, grants and the like to coerce or discriminate against individuals or organizations that merely wish to live in light of their religious conviction that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.”
Long tradition
Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation who researches and writes about marriage and religious liberty, said the First Amendment Defense Act “follows our nation’s long tradition of protecting the natural right to the free exercise of religion and freedom of association as enshrined in our Constitution.”
“It ensures that the federal government respects the rights of individuals, businesses and organizations that wish to act in accordance with their beliefs about marriage,” said Anderson, author of a forthcoming book, “Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom,” endorsed by Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren and Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
A primary criticism of the current bill is the statement that includes protection from discrimination for those who have a moral conviction that “sexual relations are properly reserved” to a marriage between one man and one woman. Critics say that language would allow employers to fire women for getting pregnant outside of wedlock.
In a July 22 blog post for BJC, Don Byrd cited a Washington Post article reporting that Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, has prepared an amendment to overhaul the bill, narrowing its focus, should it come to the floor.
(BNG contributed)
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