Pope: Conscientious Objection to Same-Sex Marriage “a Human Right”

Religious Freedom, , ,

Before concluding his first visit to the United States, Pope Francis voiced support on Monday for people who decline to solemnize or otherwise facilitate same-sex marriages.

According to NBC News, Pope Francis was asked, “Do you … support those individuals, including government officials, who say they cannot in good conscience, their own personal conscience, abide by some laws or discharge their duties as government officials, for example when issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples?”

According to NBC, the pontiff responded, saying:

“I can say that conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. . . . Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying, ‘this right that has merit, this one does not.’ . . . It is a human right and if a government official is a human person, he has that right. It is a human right.”

Given the Catholic Church’s longstanding history fighting for rights of conscience on issues ranging from military service to abortion, Pope Francis’ remarks really come as no surprise. Bishop Anthony Taylor of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock summed it up very well a few years ago, when he told a crowd gathered outside the Capitol Building, “Government must not require what conscience forbids or forbid what conscience requires.”

Photo Credit: Jeffrey Bruno from New York City, United States [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Gay Activist Organization Says Religious Exemptions in Fayetteville Ordinance “Too Broad”

Homosexuality, Religious Freedom, , , , ,

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s largest homosexual activist organization. We have written before about how the group is spending an estimated $1 million per year, on average, on its agenda in Arkansas at the moment.

Last year the group was heavily involved in the effort to implement a “nondiscrimination” ordinance in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The ordinance was overturned by voters last December–but only after a protracted campaign.

The Fayetteville City Council recently referred out a similar ordinance for voters to consider on September 8. Fayetteville voters will have the opportunity–once again–to keep or reject the ordinance. This time, however, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Human Rights Campaign feels the religious exemptions in the ordinance are “too broad.” (more…)

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Less Than 40% of Americans Support Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

Marriage,

thomas-at-odds-obergefellIf you disagree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling which, among other things, forced all 50 states to recognize same-sex marriage, you are not alone.

According to a recent poll conducted by the Associated Press in cooperation with GFK Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, only 39% of Americans approve of the court’s ruling, while 41% disapprove; 18% neither approve nor disapprove, and 2% chose not to answer.

In fact, only 30% of Americans polled said they “strongly approved” of the ruling; 35% said they “strongly disapproved.” (more…)

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