Supreme Court Justice raises religious liberty concerns during gay marriage arguments

Via Billy

During oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, Justice Antonin Scalia raised a concern shared by many Christians that establishing gay marriage as a constitutional right would require pastors to violate their deeply held beliefs and perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

“I’m concerned about the wisdom of this court imposing through the Constitution a requirement of action which is unpalatable to many of our citizens for religious reasons,” Scalia told Mary Bonauto, a lawyer arguing in favor of same-sex marriage. “They are not likely to change their view about what marriage consists of. And were the States to adopt it by law, they could make exceptions to what is required for same-sex marriage, who has to honor it and so forth. But once it’s made a matter of constitutional law, those exceptions — for example, is it conceivable that a minister who is authorized by the State to conduct marriage can decline to marry two men if indeed this Court holds that they have a constitutional right to marry? Is it conceivable that that would be allowed?”

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