In the 12 days since the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling, the Left’s army is already marching on its next target: the First Amendment. At least two movements are finding more common ground in the wake of the decision — secular and LGBT activists. The pair are becoming fast allies against what they view as a common enemy: religious freedom. Since June 26, that bond has only strengthened, as both sides converge on the church in the first wave of post-ruling attacks. Like us, they heard Solicitor General Donald Verrilli’s threat to strip religious schools’ tax exemptions and are moving quickly to turn that possibility into reality. Barry Lynn, a longtime thorn in the First Amendment’s side, is the first to capitalize on this new foothold for religious crackdown, announcing yesterday that his Americans United for the Separation of Church and State would be launching an initiative to destroy the tax relief for faith-based schools. Starting with Christian colleges, Lynn’s “Protect Thy Neighbor” project promises to use the IRS as a weapon to force same-sex “married” housing on universities with natural marriage views. Calling it “on the edge of indefensible,” Lynn took issue with any institution that would practice the religious liberty the Constitution guarantees. “This is a national dialogue that ought to begin… should in fact benefits be given to educational institutions that do in fact discriminate?” Under this new campaign, Lynn vows an “aggressive, multi-pronged initiative to fight the growing idea that ‘religious freedom’ gives people a right to thwart marriage equality for LGBT Americans, deny women access to reproductive care and use taxpayer dollars to discriminate.” This is exactly the kind of hostility most conservatives predicted in a post-marriage America. In fact, FRC was out front on the issue before the Supreme Court even ruled, organizing more than 70 educators from religiously-affiliated schools to write an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), and ask for a legislative shield from this kind of anti-freedom assault. “If the government could revoke the tax-exempt status of such schools, what is to prevent other forms of government discrimination such as revoking grants or contracts or funding for services unrelated to marriage?” It’s a valid question — especially for a movement so intentionally deceptive about its goals. Obviously, the Left’s end game is not marriage, but the complete deconstruction of people’s core beliefs. People like Barry Lynn won’t be satisfied until secular extremists co-opt religious schools — or worse, shut them down. That’s why Senator Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) First Amendment Defense Act is so vitally important. It keeps the government from using the IRS and other agencies as a weapon to batter Americans who believe in the same definition of marriage that President Obama did three years ago. In the meantime, if Barry Lynn wants to protect his neighbors, maybe he ought to start with the ones who are actually being persecuted: Christians!
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