VICTORY: U.S. Supreme Court Protects Religious Freedom for Mississippi Christians by Letting Law Stand

Fr. Mark Hodges : Jan 11, 2018
LifeSiteNews.com

The law restrains government from punishing Christians who opt out of officiating or participating in homosexual "marriages." It does not allow businesses to refuse service in general, but only applies to personal affirmation by participation in ceremonies that violate their sincerely held beliefs.

(Washington, DC)—[LifeSiteNews.com] In a victory for religious freedom, the United States' Supreme Court let stand a Mississippi law protecting Christians and other religious people from punishment by the government when they decline to provide services for same-sex "wedding" ceremonies. (Photo: U.S. Supreme Court/bakdc-Shutterstock/via LifeSiteNews)

The nation's highest court declined to hear an appeal of Mississippi's "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," signed into law by pro-life Governor Phil Bryant in April 2016, but blocked ever since.

"We are pleased that the Supreme Court declined to take up these baseless challenges," Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot said. He said that the entire purpose of the Mississippi law was so citizens "don't live in fear of losing their careers or their businesses simply for affirming marriage as a husband-wife union."

The law restrains government from punishing Christians who opt out of officiating or participating in homosexual "marriages." It does not allow businesses to refuse service in general, but only applies to personal affirmation by participation in ceremonies that violate their sincerely held beliefs.

The law also protects entities that keep bathrooms for men and women separate.

As soon as the law passed the legislature and was signed, the American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop it. In June 2016, District Judge Carlton Reeves struck down part of it, ordering county clerks in the state to issue homosexual licenses no matter what their religion taught.

On appeal, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously vacated Reeves' decision, letting the Mississippi Freedom of Conscience Act go into effect whole...

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