The State of Hawaii is about to put their churches in an untenable position. The State Senate’s Judiciary and Labor Committee has just approved a bill to be voted on by the full Senate that would make same-sex marriage legal in Hawaii. With only one Republican in the Senate, the bill is expected to be easily passed and sent to the House for consideration. Governor Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat who is up for reelection next year, is the driving force behind this and even called a special session to specifically deal with gay marriage. He said that a special session allows legislators to “focus squarely on this important issue, without having to divert attention to the hundreds of other bills introduced during a regular session.” The Governor claims to have one more vote than is needed for the bill to be passed in the House. He hopes to have same-sex weddings in the state beginning next month.
The moment this bill becomes law, churches in Hawaii will have a decision to make. Many churches in Hawaii receive a large part of their operating funds from weddings and Hawaii is a very popular place for destination weddings. Under the state’s public accommodation law, any church that makes a profit from ceremonies conducted on its property is not allowed to discriminate against any group, or couple, from holding those ceremonies. Churches that oppose same-sex marriage will have to decide between allowing their facilities to host ceremonies that violate their beliefs or giving up the funds received from all weddings. For some churches, giving up the funds in order to stick to their principles may mean having to close the church. I do not have a favorable opinion of renting out the church building for any kind of event, but those that choose to do so should be free from government regulation and interference.
This soon-to-be law in Hawaii and laws covering gay marriage in other states do have something in common with Obamacare and that is the complete disregard for and destruction of religious freedom. It is well-known that Hobby Lobby and other companies are suing the Obama administration over the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act. The lead lawyer for Hobby Lobby, Kyle Duncan, said, “The United States government is taking the remarkable position that private individuals lose their religious freedom when they make a living.” Gay marriage laws that force churches to either disregard their beliefs or suffer financially are doing the same thing, the only difference being it’s happening directly to churches instead of privately owned companies or individuals.
For decades the left has mounted an assault on religious liberty in the United States. They are quick to latch on to the Establishment Clause in order to demand anything deemed to be promoting religion be removed from public property. School prayer is gone, Christmas carols mentioning Jesus are not allowed to be sung by school choirs, crosses and monuments that have stood for decades are removed, nativity scenes are rejected for public displays… The left has become very astute at removing religion from all aspects of our society. Religion is to be kept private so as not to offend anyone. And now with Obamacare and gay marriage laws the left is intensifying the assault on religious liberty, aiming even at activities that occur inside the church. So much for religious freedom. Someone needs to remind them that the second part of the First Amendment includes the phrase, “…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The left has been very successful at changing freedom of religion into freedom from religion, and now they pass laws to control the religion that they demanded be removed from their sight. I hate to think what comes after that.
You raise a great point in your last paragraph. The liberals are fond of quoting the first part of the First Amendment, but not so much the second.
This is not something that has happened overnight. They have been working on this for decades. The advent of Obamacare and the homosexual agenda seems to have sped up their plan.
Every success they have just emboldens them to do more. I’ve said before and I still firmly believe, they won’t stop until they are one hundred percent mainstreamed and it is Christians who have to hide in the closet.