Heres What Supreme Court Says about Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom
State bans on same-sex marriage are no longer legal in America, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today.
So the question becomes: How will gay rights and religious rights be balanced?
Below is what the justices said in todays majority opinion and four dissents, as well as a summary of related survey data. [CT has also rounded up reactions from Christian thinkers and legal experts.]
Essentially, the majority believe the First Amendment gives religious groups and people “proper protection” to “continue to advocate” their beliefs on traditional marriage. But the dissenters are more skeptical, and concerned that “people of faith can take no comfort” in the ruling.
“Many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises,” acknowledges Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority in Obergefell v. Hodges, “and neither they nor their beliefs are disparaged here.”
He explains that while that “sincere, personal opposition” cannot be “enacted law and public policy” without harming gay couples and violating the Fourteenth Amendment, he favors a continued “open and searching debate” between those who favor and oppose same-sex marriage.
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