{"id":569877,"date":"2021-06-21T18:07:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T22:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=569877"},"modified":"2021-06-21T18:07:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T22:07:43","slug":"opinion-people-of-faith-must-educate-themselves-on-the-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opinion-people-of-faith-must-educate-themselves-on-the-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: People Of Faith Must Educate Themselves On The Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fopinion-people-of-faith-must-educate-themselves-on-the-supreme-court%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=569877&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/9CB952BE-C03C-42EB-BCE8-D5168365D239_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Supreme Court\u2019s decision in <em>Fulton v. Philadelphia<\/em> left some conservatives desiring more protection for religious freedom, and left LGBTQ activists seeing potential for unfair treatment in the future. While the Supreme Court ruling ultimately won\u2019t alter much, its should encourage people of faith to take more legal action when facing discrimination in the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/20pdf\/19-123_g3bi.pdf\"><span class=\"s1\">Fulton v. City of Philadelphia<\/span><\/a><i> <\/i>case reviewed by the Court looked at the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment and notably did not go further. The most important lasting outcome of the case should be that it encourages religious Americans to better understand the opinions of the Justices in order to know what actions they ought to take in the future to maintain their rights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution <a href=\"https:\/\/constitution.congress.gov\/browse\/essay\/amdt1_1_4_1\/\"><span class=\"s1\">states<\/span><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"10\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">The <i>Fulton <\/i>case focused on the foster care system in the city of Philadelphia and a religious organization with which the city does business \u2014 Catholic Social Services (CSS).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">CSS held that it was against the religious beliefs of its organization to place foster children in homes with homosexual couples, as well as couples living together unmarried \u2014 a fact most media outlets ignored.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Court stated, \u201cCSS believes that \u2018marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman,\u2019\u201d adding that because \u201cthe agency understands the certification of prospective foster families to be an endorsement of their relationships, it will not certify unmarried couples\u2014regardless of their sexual orientation\u2014or same-sex married couples.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cCSS does not object to certifying gay or lesbian individuals as single foster parents or to placing gay and lesbian children. No same-sex couple has ever sought certification from CSS. If one did, CSS would direct the couple to one of the more than 20 other agencies in the City, all of which currently certify same-sex couples. For over 50 years, CSS successfully contracted with the City to provide foster care services while holding to these beliefs,\u201d it added.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">After an inquiry and investigation into CSS, the city of Philadelphia eventually decided that \u201cit would not enter a full foster care contract with CSS in the future unless the agency agreed to certify same-sex couples,\u201d saying that \u201cthe refusal of CSS to certify same-sex couples violated a non-discrimination provision in its contract with the City as well as the non-discrimination requirements of the citywide Fair Practices Ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Alongside three foster parents related to the agency, CSS filed suit against the city, the Department, and the Commission, with the case eventually going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In the Court\u2019s majority opinion, delivered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., it was decided that the \u201crefusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless it agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny, and violates the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The city\u2019s contract was under \u201cstrict scrutiny\u201d because it allowed for some exceptions to its rule. It did not pass \u201cstrict scrutiny\u201d because it was not affording that exception to CSS.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The argument of the case centered on, along with other cases, a previous 1990 decision in <i>Employment Division,\u00a0Department\u00a0of Human Resources of\u00a0Oregon v.\u00a0Smith, <\/i>a precedent that Justice Samuel Alito took issue with in his opinion.<b> <\/b>\u201cSmith held that a generally applicable law satisfies the First Amendment if \u2018prohibiting the exercise of religion . . . is not the object of the [government action] but merely the incidental effect of\u2019 its operation,\u201d Alito\u2019s opinion explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Justice Alito agreed with the <i>Fulton<\/i> decision this week, but felt that it did not do enough, writing, \u201cThis decision might as well be written on the dissolving paper sold in magic shops. The City has been adamant about pressuring CSS to give in, and if the City wants to get around today\u2019s decision, it can simply eliminate the<b> <\/b>never-used exemption power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Alito argued that the <i>Smith<\/i> decision should be reconsidered and added that it \u201cis high time for us to take a fresh look at what the Free Exercise Clause demands.\u201d Alito went on to describe the problems that have arisen out of the <i>Smith <\/i>ruling, noting that cases after <i>Smith<\/i> \u201chave also struggled with the task of determining whether a purportedly neutral rule \u2018targets\u2019 religious exercise or has the restriction of religious exercise as its \u2018object.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Alito said that <i>Smith <\/i>should be overruled, and noted that if it were, then what should replace it is the legal standard that it superseded: \u201cA law that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise can be sustained only if it is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Those who practice religion might celebrate that the High Court came to this unanimous decision in siding with the Catholic organization. However, they should be careful before rejoicing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">While this decision would allow for CSS to continue to contract with the city in order to carry out its foster care services, it is concerning that the ruling does not offer protection for future cases wherein religious groups may speak out about covert discrimination from the government.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In her concurring opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that the \u201cgovernment contract at issue\u201d for the city of Philadelphia is beholden to \u201cstrict scrutiny\u201d because it allows for \u201cindividualized exemptions from its nondiscrimination rule.\u201d Since the city could not \u201csatisfy strict scrutiny,\u201d all of the Justices sided with the religious organization.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">This begs the question, however, of what would happen if the government did not have the \u201cexemption\u201d phrasing<b> <\/b>in its contract. Would this mean that the city could indiscriminately forbid certain groups from doing business simply because of their religious beliefs?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">People who practice a religious faith should continue to ask these questions and ensure that they speak up and take action when discrimination occurs in order to eventually satisfy a decision that would put the Supreme Court in a position in which it might rule in favor of providing allowances to religious individuals and groups in full support of the First Amendment.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Fulton v. Philadelphia left some conservatives desiring more protection for religious freedom, and left LGBTQ activists seeing potential for unfair treatment in the future. While &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280910,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/9CB952BE-C03C-42EB-BCE8-D5168365D239_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Opinion: People Of Faith Must Educate Themselves On The Supreme Court","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/9CB952BE-C03C-42EB-BCE8-D5168365D239_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Opinion: People Of Faith Must Educate Themselves On The Supreme Court","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}