At a recent televised town hall, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke called for religious institutions to lose their tax-exempt status if they disagree with him on same-sex marriage. CNN’s Don Lemon asked O’Rourke, “Do you think religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities – should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?” Without missing a beat, O’Rourke emphatically said, “Yes.” This is an outrageous assault on the First Amendment and our country’s beautiful tradition of religious freedom. One of our foremost freedoms is freedom to believe. That’s why our Constitution includes the establishment clause: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Not only is the federal government prohibited from compelling citizens to join a particular church, as many of our Founders feared, the establishment clause makes clear the federal government cannot prohibit citizens from “freely exercising” their religion as well. Some progressive denominations believe in an “evolved” view of marriage compatible with 21st century societal norms. But a great deal of Christians still agree with a 2,000-year traditional orthodoxy that a marriage can only be defined as between one man and one woman. We can have an internecine debate […]
News from around the world. Curated by Mark McDowell. Posts do not constitute agreement or endorsement.