Religious Freedom and Discrimination: Why the Debate Continues
by Albert Mohler, The Gospel Coalition:
This is a first for me—writing a book review while flying over the northern reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. I’m returning to the United States after responsibilities in the United Kingdom, speaking mostly to pastors and other Christian leaders. Everywhere I went, from central London to rural Kent, the same urgent question was asked: “Can religious liberty survive the LGBTQ moral revolution?”
Winston Churchill famously believed in the basic cultural unity of those he called the “English-speaking peoples,” meaning, most specifically, Britain and the United States. We’ve historically shared a basic commitment to moral truths including human dignity and liberty, and these commitments have been enshrined in our laws and social life. But Christians in both countries now face the prospect of a disastrous collision between the new sexual liberty prized by the LGBTQ revolution and religious liberty—long recognized in the United States as the first and most foundational freedom.
Long before the Obergefell decision legalized same-sex marriage, the inevitability of the collision was anticipated by both sides in the debate. LGBTQ advocates had already made clear their intention to advance from the legalization of same-sex marriage to press for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) in all relevant civil rights laws and regulations. Even then, the collision with religious liberty was inevitable. Even then, we were warned religious liberty would have to give way to newly constructed and judicially mandated sexual liberties.
In the brief two years since Obergefell, we have seen Christian cake bakers, wedding photographers, florists, county clerks, judges, and a host of others face civil—and in some cases criminal—prosecution. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), passed in 1993 with no negative votes in the House of Representatives and only three in the Senate, is now seen by the revolutionaries as radical legislation that must be curtailed, if not overthrown. Religious adoption agencies and schools are now warned to either surrender to the revolution or, with the passage of SOGI laws, face penalties or extinction.
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