So-called 'Virginia Values Act' undermines religious freedom; Requires Christian ministries to hire employees who do not share their stated beliefs on marriage, sexuality, and gender identity.

On July 1, the state of Virginia enacted the “Virginia Values Act,” which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. A companion law requires employers to include coverage for sex reassignment and “gender affirming” surgeries in their health plans. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, who has filed a pre-enforcement challenge, the Virginia Values Act requires “churches, religious schools, and Christian ministries to hire employees who do not share their stated beliefs on marriage, sexuality, and gender identity.”

Though the Act provides an exemption for religious schools “owned, supported, controlled, or managed” by denominations or churches, that exemption is severely limited. First, it’s limited to instances in which the curriculum “is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion.” In other words, a Catholic school could insist its religion teachers agree with Catholic doctrines but, as written, likely not its math and science teachers.

Second, the exemption applies only to religious groups that do not restrict their membership on account of sexual orientation or gender identity. In other words, a church that operates a school could require its teachers to be members of the church, but membership in that church cannot require adherence to historic Christian teaching on sexuality and marriage.

The Virginia Values Act runs afoul of current law in all kinds of ways. For starters, it ignores what the Supreme Court confirmed this past term about the “ministerial exemption,” which bars the application of anti-discrimination law in cases involving churches and their ministers.

In Our Lady of Guadalupe School, the Court, under the U.S. Constitution, ruled that churches and other “religious organizations have the freedom to set their own internal policies and codes of conduct about life, marriage, and sexuality.” Just a month after that ruling issued, the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Northam decided to ignore this freedom and the Supreme Court’s decision.

If the exemptions to the Virginia Values Act barely protects religious institutions, individual Christians in Virginia receive none at all. Which means that the Virginia Values Act violates Virginia’s own RFRA law, which clarifies that a “substantial burden” on a person’s free exercise of religion is only legally acceptable if it meets two criteria. First, there must be “a compelling governmental interest,” Second, it must be “the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.”

In short, the Virginia Values Act, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, violates the U.S. Constitution, the Virginia state constitution, and existing state laws. Other than that, it’s great!

So far, since the Virginia Values Act went into effect, the state has not taken action against any religious organizations or individuals. But, the Alliance Defending Freedom isn’t waiting for that to happen. On behalf of two churches, three schools, and a pregnancy care network, ADF has filed suit in state court. In addition, a federal suit was filed on behalf of a wedding photographer who is worried he will be forced to violate his beliefs or face the loss of his business.

According to ADF Senior Counsel Denise Harle, “The faith of many Americans inspires them to act for the good of their neighbors and also requires them to abide by its teachings… Our clients offer spiritual guidance, education, pregnancy support, and athletic opportunities to their communities because of the religious beliefs that motivate them. But Virginia’s new law forces these ministries to abandon or adjust their convictions or pay crippling fines. Such government hostility toward people of faith has no place in a free society.”

Time and time again, the Alliance Defending Freedom and other legal organizations are forced to go to court to defend the crystal-clear rights of religious organizations and individuals. Even more often, they are clarifying the rights of Christians in private appeals, clearly-worded letters, and open threats of litigation. I wish we weren’t here as a nation, but we are. As a Virginia-born native, I mourn the open hostility toward the unborn and to people of faith that now regularly pours out of the governor’s mansion.

There should be no doubt where the so called democrats are coming from. Here’s what they did to a congress member who refused to back abortions as well as gender identification

FORCE Schools To Let Male Athletes Compete In Girls’ Sports...Any Dem congressman who didn’t support this got kicked out by holding their primary in remapped districts. Why isn’t this an issue in this 2020 campaign by the Republicans ?

.. Democratic candidate for America’s Vice President California Sen. Kamala Harris sponsored a Senate bill that would that would force funding public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls’ sports teams.

In March 2019, Harris cosponsored the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Among other things, the bill would force public schools to expand female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender girls
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3873820/posts
.Also did this http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3877896/posts and this http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3880192/posts

.. HERE’S HOW THEY TREAT CONSERVATIVE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS WHO DONT SUPPORT FUNDING STUFF LIKE THIS

.. And why there is no such thing as a Conservative Dem in Congress
An example is Illinois 3rd district
.. Todays Democrats weren’t happy with this father then son votes against abortion and the son’s being the only congressional democrat to vote NO on allowing men to to call themselves a women and compete with women in college sports. To stop this the demoncrats decided to remap the areas which supported them for their primary. The ward (the 23rd) and the congressional district formerly the 5th which they changed into being the 3rd Illinois congressional by taking ward areas which are dominated by hispanic fore names and placing them into the Louis Gutierez district.

In the reshaped 3rd Congressional district primary Daniel Lipinski lost because of redistricting. Of a district which had previously included adjacent Chicago city wards to his 23rd. which was “re-mapped in 2012 after former alderman and ward committeeman now congressman William O Lipinski annouced his retirement and wanted his son for his congressional replacement .

The remap was replacing ward boundaries of the 14th known as the stockyards which had experienced demographic changes. They chopped up and called sections of not only the 23 rd but the of adjacent 12th and 15th wards now the 14th ward

Where because Chicago alderman oversee routing of such things as garbage collections it affected getting city services . Some have complained of seeing rodents since as well as complained of poor road maintainence in their distrct.Now with this remap if your residence was in one ward. Now has your neighbor across the street or a block down is in another ward

.. The 5th was a district in the 1950’s which was a part of the third largest school district in the country run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Those city wards were primarily composed of dozens of traditional value family oriented Catholic/Christian communities centered around their churches and their schools. Hence opposed to funding such things as abortion and LGBT activities rather for issues that dealt exclusively with city issues such as a subway L service and the Stevenson Expressway.

Those Wards once were reliable supporters of Dan’s father, William O Lipinski. But after the 2012 redistricting the number of precincts in the 23rd were cut back to 39 and even their ward headquarters location was stuck in another ward.

And where many wards had areas with hispanic last names those areas were redistricted and assigned to the Louis Gutieriez’s district. Where areas where buildings were abandoned affected by the no money down home mortgages or had changed because of this. The ward such as the 14th known as Back of The Yards because of the former stock yards which has since relocated was remapped to include portions of other wards mainly the 23rd which Those results are posted below which actually tear up the concept of a neighborhood and pit people against each other by using division.

In some of those wards areas of city blocks which were zoned exclusively for single family dwellings residents suddenly found their neighborhood having houses torn down and being replaced with multiple apartments with the units not required to furnish parking facilities and many renters were illegals. Much of which fit the plans for the suburbs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3881650/posts
http://www.theusmat.com/mdwbea.htm

Our governor, Ralph “Dr. Mengele” Northam, is for killing babies at the time of birth or right after it. And he was a Christian missionary to Latin America in his earlier life.

Now he supports killing babies.

Our Lt. Gov. Fairfax, has been accused by two women of rape. Their cases have gone nowhere. So much for the hastag of “Believe Them”.

Our State’s Attorney General is a Marxist, reportedly supported by Soros money. Have to fact-check that to be sure but Soros flooded Virginia with millions of dollars and bought 11 “progressive” DAs at the country levels.

Virginia has surrepticiously been under Marxist attack for years but no one noticed except Trevor Loudon at www.keywiki.org. He wrote about Steven Phillips, a black Marxist millionaire, who funded Marxist penetration efforts led by veteran reds aimed at minority groups, liberals, and the black population (and was successful in those efforts).

See more on Phillips at www.keywiki.org.

Now you know why we are in deep shit.

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