Justice Alito repeated the words he had written in his own dissent in the Obergefell case legalizing homosexual “marriage,” telling the group that he suspected the decision would be used to “vilify those who disagree and treat them as bigots.” 

"We are seeing this is coming to pass," Alito said.

He then referenced a famed Bob Dylan song lyric, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

"A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs," Alito said.

He told the audience that while religious freedom has been recognized in Congress and in the courts, attitudes are not so quick to change.

The Supreme Court Justice described how a Democratic lawmaker opposed his 2005 nomination because Alito would make "too many Catholics on the court." (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Alito also called on Americans to raise awareness of threats to religious freedom in the wake of Supreme Court rulings such as the Hobby Lobby case, where the company’s Christian owners objected to being forced to provide contraception in violation of their religious beliefs.

"We are likely to see pitched battles in courts and Congress, state legislatures and town halls," he said. "But the most important fight is for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. It is up to all of us to evangelize our fellow Americans about the issue of religious freedom."

Alito’s appearance was sponsored by Advocati Christi — or Advocates of Christ. The initiative is part of the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey’s Catholic Center for Evangelization. It offers outreach to Catholic lawyers and judges to “deepen their practice of the profession of faith, and integrate it into their daily life and practice.”

Alito spoke for about 45 minutes, according to an AP report.

He talked about the hostility faced by Catholics in the U.S. in previous centuries and his joy while staying up overnight as a Catholic youth in 1960 to witness John F. Kennedy’s election as the first Roman Catholic president.

"I felt it had lifted me up from the status of second-class American," Alito recalled.

While dissenting from the majority in the Obergefell decision in 2015, Justice Alito was alone in saying that marriage existed for the sake of procreation and child-rearing. He wrote that the majority opinion was based on ideas of romantic love.

He had also expressed a concern shared by the other conservative dissenting justices that the Obergefell decision supplants the democratic process with the views of five unelected justices.

“If a bare majority of justices can invent a new right and impose that right on the rest of the country, the only real limit on what future majorities will be able to do is their own sense of what those with political power and cultural influence are willing to tolerate,” Alito had written in his dissent.

“All Americans, whatever their thinking on that issue,” he concluded, “should worry about what the majority’s claim of power portends.”

Alito was a U.S. Attorney in New Jersey and based in Newark while a member of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. He was nominated to the High Court by President George W. Bush and has served since 2006.

LifeSiteNews

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

West Virginia Student Helps Pass Bill to Teach Intelligent Design: 'This Is a God-Fearing State'

Free Speech Resolution Allows Satanic Temple 'Invocation' Sparking Chaos at a Michigan Board Meeting

Paris Olympics Will Feature a 'Pride House' to 'Celebrate' Homosexual and Gender-Confused Athletes

Video Captures Drag Queen Indoctrinating Kids, Getting Them to Chant... 'Free Palestine'

Who's Funding the Anti-Israel, Pro-Palestine Protests?

More Lawfare: Former Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows Indicted for Role in Alternate Electors Case

DEVELOPING: Harvey Weinstein Rape Conviction Overturned By New York Appellate Court

Supreme Court Puts Final Nail in Coffin of Effort to Block Trump from Ballot in Arizona

SCOTUS Begins Hearing Arguments on Presidential Immunity: Is This the Most Important Day for Donald Trump?

Courageous: Worship Leader Sean Feucht Prepares to Confront Anti-Israel Evil, Darkness, and Horror

'Australian Censorship Commissar' Orders X to Globally Remove Video of Islamic Terror Attack on Christian Bishop

New Emails Expose Biden's Connection to Whistleblower Who Got Trump Impeached

Tennessee Passes Bill Letting Teachers Carry Guns at Schools

Transgender Movement Is Losing Its Influence on Social Media to Shut Down Debate

Ohio Attorney General Breaks Down Leftist Legal 'Trick' to Block GOP Efforts to Protect Kids

Nearly 2,000 Minnesota Students, 15 Teachers Walk Out of LGBTQ 'Indoctrination' Lesson

Pro-Life Advocates to Hold Prayer and Worship Service at the United States Supreme Court on the Eve of 'Idaho v. United States' Abortion Case

'Just a Disaster': Biden's Title IX Rule Empowers LGBTQ Movement, Erases Women and Justice

WATCH: Brave School Girl Reveals in Graphic Detail How TRANS Student Savagely Assaulted Her Friend While Blasting Woke School Officials for Letting it Happen

United For Israel March Happening on the Columbia University Campus, April 25th