President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a bill into law that he says will ensure that same-sex marriage remains legal but that critics say goes much further than that by also threatening religious liberty.
The bill, the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 8404), defines marriage as “between 2 individuals” and overturns the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Supporters say it ensures that same-sex marriage remains legal even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its landmark decision Obergefell v. Hodges(2015), which struck down traditional marriage laws nationwide. The new law also protects interracial marriage.
“Deciding whether to marry, who to marry is one of the most profound decisions a person can make,” Biden said, adding that the new law “recognize[s] that everyone should have the right to answer those questions for themselves without the government interference.”
Although the bill includes an amendment that supporters say protects religious liberty, critics say its impact is too narrow. The amendment protects churches and other houses of worship. It also protects religious organizations “whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or advancement of religion” from being forced to participate in the “solemnization or celebration” of same-sex marriage.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious liberty legal group that opposed the bill, said in an analysis that the law ignores “the true threats to religious individuals and organizations.” As written, the new law “can be used to punish social-service organizations that work closely with government,” such as “adoption or foster placement agencies that serve their communities in accordance with their religious belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.”
The new law also could be used by the government to threaten a religious organization’s tax-exempt status, ADF said.
“When the IRS determines whether an organization is ‘charitable’ under the Internal Revenue Code, it asks whether the entity’s conduct is ‘contrary to public policy’ or violates a ‘national policy,’” an ADF analysis of the bill said. “... The IRS could rely upon the bill to conclude that certain nonprofits are not ‘charitable.’ The amendment’s new provision does nothing to prevent this.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also released an analysis of the law, saying the religious liberty protections are “too narrow.”
“It only applies to religious organizations in the solemnization or celebration of a marriage, not to religious individuals or to any entity in any other context,” the USCCB analysis said.
For example, the new law would not protect Christian-owned florists and bakers who have been involved in prominent lawsuits nationwide.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan penned a column last month warning that the law’s negative impact on religious liberty would be “far-reaching.”
“In any conflict with same-sex civil marriage and the rights that flow from it, it will be said that Congress took pains to codify Obergefell, but not to protect the freedoms of speech and religion that Obergefell harms, making them second-class rights,” Dolan wrote. “The [law] will be a new arrow in the quiver of those who wish to deny religious organizations’ liberty to freely exercise their religious duties, strip them of their tax exemptions, or exclude them from full participation in the public arena.
“This failure to afford space in the public square for those who offer an authentic witness about marriage dishonors the best of American traditions,” Dolan added. “Our country has always served as a demonstration to the world that citizens in profound disagreement can exist in a harmony sustained by a law and culture that cherishes tolerance and compromise. Now is the time to redouble our commitment to those ideals.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Drew Angerer/Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
