Abstract
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution contains dual concepts related to religion: freedom to believe and freedom to act. Recent litigation, addressing the conflict between public accommodation of sexual orientation and religious liberty, reveals how legislative and judicial measures diminish the freedom to act in accordance with religious beliefs. The Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized that same-sex couples are afforded the fundamental right to marry, provided more uncertainty for religious liberty and incited debates as to whether this novel right is superior to the long-standing constitutional rights protecting religious liberty.
This Article examines these issues surrounding the clash of religious liberty with marriage equality and demonstrates how the expansion of marriage equality has resulted in the contraction of religious liberty. To maintain religious liberty, this Article proposes that governmental policies that refuse to accommodate individuals with faith-based objections to same-sex marriage be subject to strict scrutiny. Thus, challenges to such governmental policies must be justified by a compelling governmental interest and narrowly tailored to effectuate that interest under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Recommended Citation
L. D. Weeden,
Marriage Equality Laws are a Threat to Religious Liberty,
41
S. Ill. U. L.J.
211
(2017).
Available at:
https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/siulj/vol41/iss2/2