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Equality Act

From the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty:

Dear Christian friends,

 

The LCRL, as an advocacy organization for the sake of the protection of the public voice of our Churches and schools, has been speaking the HR 5 – “Equality Act” legislation and its effects on the Church and our parochial schools since before the election (see our Liberty Alerts at LCRLfreedom.org). The “Equality” act, better called the “anti-biblical, traditional morality” Act, will make every church, school, pre-school, University subject to the new teaching on marriage (which means you cannot define marriage solely as between a man, woman for life), and subject to the new definition of sexual orientation/identity (malleable classifications with no relationship to one’s biological sex rooted in science and morality). Listed below are several documents that will summarize the nefarious effects of a piece of legislation. It should help you be informed so that you can make your voice known to those who are elected to represent you.

 

The law will make it a federal civil rights violation to teach or to organize or to hire/fire otherwise. It will remove the 1st amendment protections of the Church and it will overturn RFRA (the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act….total bi-partisan legislation which undergirded our 1st amendment freedoms). Whew! And it will make conformity to the new libertinism or litigation for non-conformists a reality for Churches, schools, and pre-schools almost immediately.

 

We’ve warned about this legislation for over a year. We instructed citizens to “vote platforms not people” this past election. And, we’ve pleaded with Christians to at least vote to protect the Church and her schools this past election. Many did not. We now are working closely with ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom) people who defend the Church in various litigations like those which will come with the “Equality Act.” In the various meetings we’ve had with ADF and other LCMS entities, I always ask their lead litigator the question, “What will this litigation will do to our schools and churches?” Here’s what he said especially if the Equality Act is signed into law. Here’s his advice for parochial school action in preparation of HR 5 becoming law.

 

What will happen if HR 5 – The Equality Act becomes law.

  1. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 will be reinterpreted to include sexual orientation/Gender Identity as the same protected class as biological sex (male/female).
  2. The RFRA protections of schools and churches will be annulled concerning the new definition of marriage and the Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity laws (SOGI). State protection laws will be superseded as well.
  3. Schools will be subject to the broader definition of “public accommodation spaces” and therefore subject to the new marriage, SOGI laws with potential civil rights litigation if found to be in violation.
  4. Private health plans of Churches/Schools will be affected.
  5. Hiring and firing practices will be subject to these new federally protected classes.
  6. Classroom management and accommodation issues concerning “boys and girls” will be affected with “mismanagement” subject to litigation.

 

A fellow pastor stated the concerns this way:

 

  • The Equality Act designates schools, churches, and healthcare organizations as “public accommodations” such that they would be forced to accept the government’s beliefs and mandates about sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • The Equality Act will legislate that the biology/anatomy of student athletes can not restrict which team they participate in or which dressing room they use (likewise with homeless shelters and prisons)
  • The Equality Act will encourage or mandate schools to instruct very young children that they can choose to be a boy or a girl (or neither or both) and that their anatomical sexual organs are irrelevant to their sexual identity.
  • The Equality Act will use the force of law across our nation to strip Christian and other religious ministries of their right to only hire people of shared faith and values.
  • The Equality Act will deprive health workers of their rights of conscience, forcing doctors and medical professionals to engage in gender transition treatments and surgery.
  • The Equality Act will be a tool used by the government to deny or threaten accreditation to religious colleges and universities if they do not comply with these new gender mores.

 

Here are more pertinent resources for the so-called Equality Act. These should give each person the necessary information to inform them as they make their voice known to their leaders in the Congress and the Senate.

 

 

Finally, what can our schools do NOW concerning the potential challenges to ministry implied in the passage of the Equality Act? Pray about this, get informed, and make your voice known to your elected officials individually and as a Church. Update your “official documents” according to the ADF guidelines for schools and churches (see ADF document attached). Sadly, be prepared for litigation if the legislation becomes law. Christians need to realize that this act doesn’t provide equality before the law for people with more libertine views of sexuality and sexuality identity, it provides a special, legally protected class for such differences. Biblical morality will be reclassified as virtual hate speech overnight with enforcement against non-conforming churches and schools subject to the power of Federal and State governments and agencies. Such a climate flies in the face of the 1st amendment, religious liberty character of our nation and it penalizes Bible-believing Christians for being faithful to the time-honored, moral teachings of the Scripture. God created us “male and female,” and He orders us morally for our protection and for our flourishing. The Equality Act not only disagrees with that, it makes our dissenting cultural voices illegal just because we lovingly disagree.

 

For Christian Churches and Schools, this is a religious liberty issue politically. We are not the people “forcing” our morality on anyone. And yet, we are being told that we cannot have a biblical, moral view of these things that contradicts the spirit of the age. The Equality Act will make our view in the public arena punishable by law. For more information on this see our Liberty Alerts on our website lcrlfreedom.org or go to our LCRL Facebook page for various posts on the matter….but the docs I give you now, should be helpful. While our voice compared to others is small, we are seeking to be as clear, as concise, and as helpful as we can be.

God’s peace in the storm,

Dr. Gregory P. Seltz, PhD

Executive Director, LCRL

Speaker Emeritus, The Lutheran Hour

Email – Gregory.seltz@lcrlfreedom.org

Please Click Here for a PDF of this Letter:  EQUALITY ACT