A win for religious freedoms?

[rjohnson]

How will this translate to clergy not agreeing to marry gay couples? Seems like some state just had an executive order that would not force any clergy to marry gay couples if they didn't agree with on religious beliefs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-06-01/supreme-court-justices-back-religious-rights?cmpid=otbrn.video

[Deltamud77]

An executive order would not trump what the SCOTUS has deemed constitutional. I think we will first see churches that refuse to marry same sex couples have their tax exemption challenged and likely taken away. I foresee some churches getting ahead of the curve and voluntarily giving up that exemption. If another Democrat wins the WH (which demographically is almost a certainty relative to the electoral college), you will likely see at least two more SCOTUS justices confirmed that will be hard core leftist. At that point, it would not surprise me in the least to see criminal prosecution under federal hate crimes for clergy that refuse to perform same sex marriages be affirmed by the SCOTUS.

The horse is out of the barn now guys.

[novacaine]

[rjohnson]

[gps4]

wouldn't it be something if adam and steve (or ann and eve) hired a preacher to marry them, and when he performed the ceremony, he preached on what the bible says about marriage and what the bible says about homosexuality and riled up the congregation before he did the deed.

on a different note, what do we make of the instances where relatively mainstream denominations have allowed and ordained homosexual ministers, such as the United Church of Christ (1972), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (since 2010) and the Presbyterian Church (USA) (since 2012). The Episcopal Church in the United States and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) have also allowed ordination of openly gay and lesbian candidates for ministry for some years. Internationally, churches that have ordained openly lesbian or gay clergy include the Church of Scotland, the Church of Sweden, the Church of Denmark, the Evangelical Church in Germany, the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, the Swiss Reformed Church, the United Protestant Church.

[Wildfowler]

[Wingman]

[davidees]

[Deltamud77]

There will be very few denominations that will not marry homosexuals. I know that Southern Baptists, Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) and Catholics will not. I assume Pentecostals and Church of Christ folks will not either. Most, if not all Episcopal Churches and Methodist Churches will be marrying them in MS soon enough, I would imagine. I hope I am wrong though.

[JLT]

It is very likely that you will see a split in the Methodist conference over it......

[teul2]

[bigoak]

I feel like this issue is about to cause a lot of conflict in several denominations. The marrying thing is just part of the issue. There will be conflict over whether or not openly gay people should be allowed to serve on committees, teach Sunday school, be elected deacons, etc.. How do churches react when openly gay people start bringing their partner to church? Especially small to medium churches in small town Mississippi. We are gonna see some churches split up over this issue.

[ShotgunSP]

[JLT]

I would expect my church to act the same way toward gays attending together as they would act if I had a mistress and decided to bring her to church this Sunday instead of my wife........A sin is a sin and homosexuality is no different. Nobody should pat them on the back and tell them its fine.

[GulfCoast]

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church ("EPC"); and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church ("OPC") will NOT marry same-sex couples, in addition to the Presbyterian Church in America. The so called "PCUSA" is as left-wing as so called "Christians" can get.