Y NAPP NAZWORTH , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
April
6, 2015|7:51
am
While
conservative Christians have long fought for the religious freedom of religious
minorities, they have become increasingly concerned about their own religious
freedom in recent years. Here are reasons that is happening.
1.
Same-Sex Marriage
Some
conservative Christians have long been warning that same-sex marriage presents a
danger to the religious freedom of those Christians who believe true marriage
can only be between a man and a woman. Those who sounded those warnings were
accused of sensationalism; they were only making those claims to fan the flames
of opposition to SSM, it was said at the time. We now know that they were right
all along. SSM supporters who only a few years ago claimed that SSM would not
infringe upon anyone's religious beliefs are now openly defending government
coercion of SSM opponents.
Wedding
vendors, like photographers, florists and bakers, have been on the front lines
of these religious freedom battles. Even though there are plenty of wedding
vendors not opposed to serving a same-sex wedding, and the brides or the grooms
have usually stated that they preferred vendors who support SSM, there have been
several instances where conservative Christian wedding vendors have been
punished for declining to serve a same-sex wedding. In some cases, the
punishments are so severe that these vendors will not only be put out of
business but their life savings will be wiped out.
If
those in powerful political positions believe that those opposed to SSM should be forced to choose between violating
their religious conscience or personal financial ruin, they cannot be
counted on to defend the religious freedom of conservative Christians.
Additionally,
since SSM supporters lied about their support for religious freedom when they
were pushing for passage of gay marriage, what are they lying about now?
Churches will not be required to perform gay weddings, they say; pastors who
denounce homosexuality will not lose their tax-exempt status, they say, or be
imprisoned for hate speech, they say; but why should they be trusted? How far do
liberals want to go in their use of government force to infringe upon the
religious freedom of conservative Christians?
2.
Anti-Christian Hostility
In
their 2015 book, So
Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United
States? sociologists David Williamson and George Yancey document
anti-Christian hostility among certain liberal activists. While these
activists are small in number, they tend to be powerful elites, which provides
them with much cultural and political influence.
Through
interviews with some of these anti-Christian liberals, Williamson and Yancey
reveal what conservative Christians have long felt to be true: there are
influential people, in politics, the media and entertainment, who despise them
and wish to marginalize them as much as possible.
3.
Gordon College and Brendan Eich
For
a preview of what could be next, look to Gordon College and Brendan Eich.
Gordon's
president, D. Michael Lindsay, signed a letter to President Barack Obama asking
him to include a religious exemption in his employment non-discrimination
executive order. The exemption would not have benefited Gordon College directly
and it was the same exemption that was already passed by a Democratic-controlled
U.S. Senate. Additionally,the letter was also signed by Obama supporters and was organized
by Michael Wear, who had worked for the Obama's White House and his 2012
election campaign.
Despite
all that, Gordon has been targeted because the Christian college has a conduct
policy that bans sexual relations between same-sex partners. A Massachusetts city terminated a contract with the college, and it is being
investigated by its accreditor.
Brendan Eich was forced out of his job as the CEO of Mozilla
because he had donated $1,000 to a campaign in support of an amendment to
California's state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one
woman.
Both
of these cases could be a preview of things to come. Will Christian colleges
guided by Christian principles lose their accreditation? Their tax exempt
status? Will their students be denied government aid? Will Christians opposed to
SSM be allowed to hold any high profile jobs?
4.
Reactions to RFRA
The
notion that those with religious objections to SSM should not be given religious
freedom can also be seen in last week's reactions to the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act.
RFRA
was strongly supported by both liberals and conservatives in the 1990's when it
was first passed at the federal level in reaction to members of the Native
American Church who were punished after they used peyote, an hallucinogenic
drug, as part of a religious worship service. After realizing that RFRA also
protects conservative Christians, not just religious minorities, liberals have
begun opposing it.
Most of the media coverage last week about RFRA has failed to inform the public of why the law is
important. Worse still, the media has misinformed about what the law actually
does.
One
of the arguments liberal news sites used in announcing its opposition was that
certain conservative Christians supported the law. If conservative Christians
are for it, it must be a bad law, appears to be the reasoning.
On
Thursday, liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called for the repeal of all RFRA laws.
Similarly, in a Wed. op-ed for The Daily Beast, Michael Tomasky denounced RFRA and argued that those whose
religious beliefs are opposed to SSM should not be provided any legal
accommodation.
What Liberals Say
Conservative
Christians also worry about their religious freedom because liberals themselves
have stated they should not have religious freedom.
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