It’s no secret that liberals in America despise religion, and try everything imaginable to remove faith from the public square. Whether it be trying to force individuals to violate their conscience and provide birth control or services for a gay marriage, the left has no sympathy for anyone who lives a religious life.
While some people may think such fears are over the top, one man, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, warns that America is at a tipping point, and religious liberty will be tested across the country in the years to come.
Speaking at an event sponsored by Catholic lawyers’ group Advocati Christi last week, Alito referenced language he used in his dissent in the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of gay marriage, stating that the ruling would be used to “vilify those who disagree, and treat them as bigots.”
From the Associated Press:
“We are seeing this is coming to pass,” he said, then mentioned Bob Dylan’s famous song lyric, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
“A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs,” Alito said.
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In a roughly 45-minute speech that mentioned the Founding Fathers and 19th-century French writer Alexis De Tocqueville as well as Dylan and the 1960s TV sitcom “The Flying Nun,” Alito discussed the hostility faced by Catholics in the U.S. over the centuries, and of his own joy as a youth staying up until the wee hours of the morning to witness John F. Kennedy elected the first Roman Catholic president in 1960.
“I felt it had lifted me up from the status of second-class American,” he said.
Justice Alito also warned that the court’s decision in favor of Hobby Lobby should help to galvanize all Americans about the importance of religious liberty in this country:
We are likely to see pitched battles in courts and Congress, state legislatures and town halls. But the most important fight is for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. It is up to all of us to evangelize our fellow Americans about the issue of religious freedom.
Religious liberty is a Constitutional guarantee, and if recent history is any proof, the left is using every avenue possible to try and deny Americans the right to practice their faith in a way they see fit. The Supreme Court’s decision that Hobby Lobby, which is a closely held religious-based company, was within its rights to exclude one kind of birth control from its health care coverage, is just one example of how important religious liberty still is today.
Alito’s comments further stress the importance that President Trump’s nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, get confirmed by the United States Senate. Gorsuch, who if confirmed will replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, could cast the crucial 5th vote on future cases involving religious liberty, and help to reaffirm this sacred right in our country for years to come.