Congressmen attack 'so-called religious freedom'

Andre Carson

A homosexual member of Congress from Colorado and a Muslim from Indiana are proposing a resolution to thwart "so-called religious freedom" laws that reinforce the constitutional protections reserved for religious believers accused of discrimination.

The issue arose when Indiana passed a Religious Freedom Protection Act based on the federal law to protect people of faith such as the Christian bakers, florists and photographers who have been punished for declining to lend their talents to same-sex ceremonies.

The new move from Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., would force Christians to provide their services for homosexual events, even if it violates their faith.

Carson, a Muslim whose appointment to the House Intelligence Committee has been criticized because of his association with radical Islamic groups, this week issued a statement about his plan for a "Federal LGBT Resolution Opposing Discrimination."

"For far too long, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans have been forced to live in the shadows because of who they are," Carson said in a statement posted online. "Year after year, we see attacks on the LGBT community as governments at all levels look to institutionalize discrimination in the name of religious freedom. Recently, we witnessed my home state of Indiana enact a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, giving businesses the right to refuse serve based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

He said it's "long past time" for Congress to set in stone bans on such decisions based on religion.

Carson asserted "all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity," need to know they are "valued members of our society."

"They deserve to live their lives like any other American, free from intolerance because of who they are," he said.

America, he urged, must be intolerant of "discrimination faced by the LGBT community."

A newspaper in Polis' home district, the Loveland Reporter-Herald, calling Carson and Polis and others "congressional leaders," identified other supporters as Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I.; Mark Takano, D-Calif.; and House Democrat Police and Communications Committee Chairman Steve Israel of New York.

See WND's "Big List of Christian Coercion" with dozens of cases in which Christians have been fined, threatened or penalized for recognizing the biblical definition of marriage. A petition also has been created in support of ordinances that allow Christian business owners to live by their faith.

"The resolution comes in response to what they refer to as the 'so-called religious freedom' law passed in Indiana," the report said.

Polis, a homosexual who often advocates for "gay rights" in Congress, told the newspaper: "Recent events in Indiana and Arkansas have shown that some people will continue to choose to discriminate until Congress acts to provide LGBT Americans with equal protections in all 50 states. That's why I'm proud to join Representatives Carson, Cicilline, Israel, and Takano today in urging Congress to send the message that discrimination in any form, no matter what state it occurs in, is wrong. A person's right to basic equality under the law shouldn't depend on what state they live in."

Polis just a few months ago was urging Congress to adopt federal protections for "LGBT Americans" in the workplace.

A statement he released on the issue said faith would not be allowed as a defense.

"Where religious freedom and freedom from discrimination appear to collide, [the Employment Non-Discrimination Act] will hold employers to precisely the same standard to which they are held with regard to discrimination based on race, gender and national origin."

Under the bill, a Christian-owned company would not be able to decline a homosexual's request for wedding services any more than it could decline the same request from a black or white on the basis of race.

The conflict between religious rights, which are protected in the Constitution, and "gay rights" is heating up as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in a claim that same-sex marriage should be recognized as a constitutional right.

Already, some Christian leaders are warning that if the Supreme Court imposes same-sex marriage, there will be mass civil disobedience.

In an interview with WND, conservative leader Pat Buchanan, the author of "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?" and other bestsellers, spoke on the controversy over the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Buchanan condemned defeatism among social conservatives and rejected retreat or even compromise. Instead, the one-time presidential contender and Reagan White House aide urged Christians to put the laws of God above the laws of man.

"This battle can be won, but it cannot be won if we do not stand our ground and fight against this moral onslaught from the left," he said. "The hill to stand on and fight on is the God-given natural right and the constitutional principle that people of faith may choose not to associate with those whose actions are abhorrent and whose lifestyle is insulting and offensive to that faith."

Buchanan dismissed arguments that "gay-rights" activists are simply asking for political freedom or the same rights as any other citizen.

"The LGBT militants are not asking to be left alone," he said. "They are demanding that we accept the morality of homosexuality and same-sex marriages, and manifest that acceptance, under pain of law and sanctions, in our daily lives."

What's America's future going to be? Pat Buchanan offers his opinion in "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?"

Buchanan added: "As the Romans demanded of the Christians, the LGBT fanatics want us to burn incense to their gods. The answer is no. If it comes to civil disobedience, so be it."

Legal counsel Mat Staver, whose organization led the fight against same-sex marriage in Alabama, warned of the consequences of a Supreme Court ruling.

"Immediately, when elevated to that level of a constitutionally protected category, [same-sex marriage] is given the same status as race. What you cannot legally do with respect to race, you will not be able to do legally with respect to same-sex unions and sexual immorality.

"Think of race in the context of religious expression or conscience expression and replace it with sexual immorality, transsexualism or so-called gender identity. For example, churches and other religious organizations are exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of federal, state or local nondiscrimination laws. But they are not exempted from the race provisions. So Catholics can hire Catholics, and Baptists can hire Baptists, but they cannot hire only 'white' Catholics or only 'white' Baptists. They would face significant penalties. You can't have separate restrooms or drinking fountains for people of a different color. If a church did that they would be liable for a significant amount of damages because of discrimination on the basis of race.

"Same-sex marriage or laws including sexual orientation or gender identity as a non-discrimination category directly impact religious organizations and churches. If a man wants to use the women's restroom and a church official told him he could not, then that act would be like telling people of color they cannot use the 'white only' restroom. You will also have the same issues with tax exemption over sexual preference as you have now over race," he said.

A brief submitted to the Supreme Court also warned that the decision could eliminate "all sexual boundaries" and formally establish that "children are sexual from birth."

"This court cannot – and should not – erase millennia of human history and dismantle the granite cornerstone of society in favor of an experimental construct that is barely a decade old," said the brief, filed by lawyers with Liberty Counsel.

"This case presents the court with the opportunity to affirm and preserve the unique, comprehensive union of a man and a woman, the foundational social institution upon which society was built and the future of the nation depends," it said.

"Changing millennia of history must always be approached with trepidation. In this case, the change must be rejected outright not only because it is seeking to redefine something which cannot be redefined, but also because the proposed change is grounded in fraudulent 'research' based on skewed demographics and the sexual abuse of hundreds of infants and children," the brief states.

"The 'research' upon which petitioners based their artificial construct of same-sex 'marriage' is contained in Alfred Kinsey's books on male and female sexuality, which legitimized homosexual conduct and ushered in a societal transformation that has now affected three generations and every aspect of America life."

The brief was filed on behalf of Judith Reisman, perhaps the world's leading expert on Kinsey and the child torture that produced his reports on sexuality. She is author of "Kinsey: Crimes & Consequences," "Sexual Sabotage" and "The Kinsey Corruption."

The brief explains that homosexuality was condemned in America until after Kinsey's publications on sexuality, which included data purporting to show a 5-month-old infant was capable of three orgasms in a few hours.

However, at the time of the publication of Kinsey's reports, few asked how he acquired the information. Reisman's work over the years has revealed that an "orgasm" for a child, according to Kinsey, was "body tensions, twitching, rigidity, extreme tensions with violent convulsions, hysterical laughing, collapse, fainting, excruciating pain and screaming."

The Indiana law was adopted to protect business owners from being coerced into violating their faith, but the left's immediate uproar pushed lawmakers and the governor into reversing course, and creating protections for homosexuals that other lifestyles do not have in the state.

"Nothing in this law would enable a small business to refuse to offer or provide services, facilities, use of a public accommodation, goods, etc.," said Americans for Truth About Homosexuality President Peter LaBarbera.

LaBarbera said the changes gut protections for Indiana residents of all faiths.