Tel-Chai Nation

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart's Big Government tells about how New Jersey lawmakers have withheld a bill for legalizing same-sex marriage so they can terminate religious freedoms for Christians who wish to balk at servicing:

New Jersey’s legislature is moving a bill to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. Although likely to pass, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg pulled the bill that she was supporting because of objections from gay-rights organizations such as Lamba Legal.

The reason? Weinberg explained, “They don’t want any kind of religious exemption, so out of respect for that, I will [pull the bill] (emphasis added).” The bill would have allowed houses of worship and people of faith, such as churches and observant Christians, to decline to participate in any way with gay marriage. In a state where they can have their way, some gay-rights supporters are demanding that the law allow for full and vigorous prosecution under anti-discrimination and public-accommodation laws of anyone who will not embrace and celebrate homosexual marriage.

We already see what happens where such protections are lacking. In Michigan and Georgia, graduate students were expelled from counseling programs for refusing to affirm gay marriage. In Vermont, a bed and breakfast was sued for not allowing a same-sex wedding reception in its banquet hall. And in a case now being offered to the U.S. Supreme Court, Elane Photography v. Willock, a financial penalty was imposed on a Christian photographer for declining to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony.

The most egregious of these situations can even involve criminal prosecution. In Washington State, a criminal investigation was launched into a florist for not making flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding. Also, in the Colorado case of Craig v. Masterpiece Cakeshop, owner Jack Phillips faces possible criminal prosecution or being sent to jail for contempt of court for not baking a wedding cake celebrating same-sex marriage (even though Colorado law does not recognize same-sex marriage).

This will lead to civil disobedience. For millions of devout Christians and observant members of other faiths, marriage is the union of a man and woman. They cannot with a clear conscience participate in any way in a redefinition of marriage to include behavior or self-identification that their religious faith believes to be immoral. Whether pastors or laypeople, church buildings or secular businesses, many millions of faithful Americans will not betray their God and their faiths, no matter what the government threatens.

Once the government puts a single Christian behind bars for anything arising in this context, it crosses the line into persecution. The U.S. Constitution secures a fundamental right to freely exercise one's religion in every area of one's life and engage in faith-based speech, while there is no right to demand that others celebrate your sexual behavior and accommodate whatever demands you make. The former is written into the text of the Constitution in the First Amendment, while the latter is not found anywhere.

I find it weird these gay advocates want to spend their money at businesses who don't share their views. But the worst part is their anti-democratic tactics, not all that different from communism and marxism. Furthermore, if this is allowed to take hold, then Jewish firms will be targeted next, while Muslims by contrast are likely to get a free pass in all instances. Just like with Christianity, even Judaism sees marriage as being between one man and one woman.

I've got a feeling the requests made by same-sex marriage advocates at Christian owned stores for services were done deliberately, so they could wage lawfare next. I'd say it'd be a good idea for dissenters to raise that in a countersuit against them.

Labels: Christianity, communism, islam, Judaism, Moonbattery, political corruption, United States