804-225-8565 office@vacatholic.org
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Contact Us
  • View site in English / Spanish
Virginia Catholic Conference
  • Issues
    • Family and Education
    • Life
    • Religious Freedom
    • Social Justice
  • Take Action
    • Action Center
    • Advocacy Tools
    • Legislative Agendas & Outcomes
  • News & Events
    • Updates
    • From the Tiber to the James
    • Virginia Pro-Life Day
  • Resources
    • Catholic Resources
    • Post-Roe Resources
    • End of Life Resources
    • Government Resources
  • About Us
    • Overview
    • Because We Are Catholic
    • Staff
    • Management Committee
    • Contact Us
  • Join us!
Select Page

The other threat posed by same-sex “marriage”: religious liberty in peril

by admin | May 6, 2015 | Catholic social teaching, Church teaching, Faithful citizenship, Marriage and family, Religious liberty

marriage rings

Last week, the movement to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples reached a crescendo in oral arguments presented before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The case, Obergefell v. Hodges, seeks to overturn a decision by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding marriage laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee affirming marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

As Virginia’s two Bishops stated in their 2006 Pastoral Letter on Marriage, “No religion, government, or individual has the right or the legitimate authority to alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage that has existed ever since the first man and woman were created.”

To that end, the petitioners were met with skepticism from both liberal and conservative justices.  Justice Anthony Kennedy, considered the Court’s swing vote, noted that marriage has been understood as the union of one man and one woman, an idea that “has been with us for millennia. And it—it’s very difficult for the Court to say, oh, well, we—we know better.”

Said Chief Justice John Roberts, “Every definition that I looked up, prior to about a dozen years ago, defined marriage as unity between a man and a woman as husband and wife….You’re not seeking to join the institution, you’re seeking to change what the institution is. The fundamental core of the institution is the opposite-sex relationship and you want to introduce into it a same-sex relationship.”

Justice Stephen Breyer, a reliable  vote for the Court’s liberal wing, added, “[heterosexual marriage] has been the law everywhere for thousands of years among people who were not discriminating even against gay people, and suddenly you want nine people outside the ballot box to require states that don’t want to do it to change…what marriage is.”

But perhaps the most illuminating and alarming admission in last week’s arguments was the concession by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli in response to a question from Justice Alito as to whether a religiously affiliated school or university would jeopardize their non-profit status if they continued to affirm marriage as it has traditionally been known in the wake of a Supreme Court decision recognizing a right to same-sex marriage.

“It’s certainly going to be an issue. I don’t deny that. I don’t deny that, Justice Alito,” Verrilli responded. “It is—it is going to be an issue.”

This stunning admission by the Solicitor General corroborates the concerns expressed by the U.S. Bishops in their amicus brief that redefining marriage poses serious threats to the ability of religious institutions, businesses, and individuals to conduct themselves in the public arena in ways consistent with their deeply held religious beliefs.   Examples of how redefining marriage has impacted religious freedom abound in both religious institutions and secular businesses.  For instance, in several states, Catholic Charities has been forced to stop providing adoption services, and business owners have been subject to legal action, fined—or worse—lost their businesses.

A Supreme Court decision affirming a constitutional right to same-sex “marriage” will have serious consequences for religious liberty rights.

As Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the USCCB, said in a statement, “Today is a moment of great consequence.…We pray that the justices will uphold the responsibility of states to protect the beautiful truth of marriage, which concerns the essential well-being of the nation, especially children….The Church will always defend this right and looks to people of good will to continue this debate with charity and civility.”

The decision is expected in June.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • X

Like this:

Like Loading...

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 272 other subscribers

Archives

Categories

  • Catholic social teaching
  • Christmas
  • Church teaching
  • criminal justice
  • Death Penalty
  • Economic justice
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Faithful citizenship
  • From the Tiber to the James
  • Gender
  • health care
  • Human Sexuality
  • Immigration
  • Living the faith
  • Marriage and family
  • mercy
  • News
  • Norfolk
  • Religious liberty
  • Respect for life
  • Tidewater
  • Uncategorized

Tags

abortion Addiction bipartisan border crisis capitalism Catholic social teaching children climate change Coastal Resilience Research death penalty disabilities drug abuse economy education elections encyclical environment faithful citizenship family free trade gridlock health care human dignity immigration LaudatoSi' legalization life local democracy marijuana marriage Medicaid migrants Pope Francis poverty pro-life refugees religious liberty same sex marriage scholarships school choice social justice tariffs Virginia Virginia General Assembly voting

Latest Tweets

Contact Us

Virginia Catholic Conference
919 East Main St., Suite 1140
(Truist Place)
Richmond, VA 23219
phone: 804-225-8565
fax: 804-225-0166

office@vacatholic.org

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Take Action on Current Alerts      © The Virginia Catholic Conference
%d