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“These core First Amendment principles cannot peacefully coexist alongside Government speech codes designed to enforce a superficial and false conformity of belief. Instead, the Free Speech Clause protects a noisy, crowded, and vibrant marketplace of ideas, populated with both supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage.”

Discussion

Tue, 04/07/15

“WASHINGTON, DC, April 2, 2015— Today, on behalf of prominent religious organizations, public speakers, and scholars, Liberty Institute filed an amicus brief in the historic United States Supreme Court case, Obergefell v. Hodges, which could determine the future of marriage laws in the United States. In the brief, Liberty Institute asks the Justices to affirm the Sixth Circuit decision upholding marriage laws in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee, and to expressly affirm the First Amendment free speech rights of Christian ministers, teachers, and leaders who are compelled by faith and conscience to preach and speak aloud their millennia-old and sincerely held religious view that marriage is the sacred union of one man and one woman. Read the brief here.

The friend-of-the-court brief states: “In reaching its decision, this Court should reaffirm that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects religious dissenters who disagree with state-recognized same-sex marriage and to reaffirm the importance of free debate and free inquiry in this democratic Republic.”

Liberty Institute President and CEO Kelly Shackelford said, “Religious liberty and free speech are our first American freedoms. We hope the Supreme Court will use this opportunity to affirm the Sixth Circuit and reaffirm the constitutional rights of all Americans to speak and act according to their beliefs.”

The signatories of the brief include: National Religious Broadcasters, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan’s Purse, In Touch Ministries, Pathway to Victory, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, Dallas Theological Seminary, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Daniel L. Akin, Dr. Mark L. Bailey, Dr. Francis J. Beckwith, Dr. Robert A.J. Gagnon, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Dr. Byron R. Johnson, Eric Metaxas, Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., Dr. Charles F. Stanley, John Stonestreet and Dr. Owen Strachan.”

https://www.libertyinstitute.org/freespeechmarriagebrief

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Here is the brief (in full):

https://www.libertyinstitute.org/file/SCOTUSMarriageAmicus–Free-Speech-Clause–FINAL6.pdf