What are "rights of conscience" cases?
A growing area of religious liberty litigation, “rights of conscience” cases involve individuals who – out of sincerely held personal or religious conviction, protected by the U.S. Constitution – choose not to participate in a particular business relationship or transaction, or to comply with a government or administrative directive.Notable examples include pharmacists in Illinois, Washington, and Montana, who declined to sell the “morning-after” abortion-inducing pill, out of a conviction that life is sacred from conception … a Coast Guard officer who refused a mandatory hepatitis vaccine, which he knew had been created in part from the cells of an aborted baby … and medical professionals who chose not to perform abortions or refer their patients to other doctors who would.
Do all “rights of conscience” cases involve sanctity of life issues?
No. Other recent Alliance Defense Fund cases involved defending the religious freedom of a British airline steward who refused to conceal the cross around her neck during flights (other stewards were allowed to display their non-Christian religious symbols)… a Missouri librarian who was fired for requesting Sundays off so she could go to church … and employees of an Oklahoma company who were ordered to remove any religious indications of Christmas from their work stations.
How is the struggle over the demands of the homosexual agenda impacting conscience cases?
Mental health care workers around the country have been effectively ordered not to counsel patients struggling with homosexual behavior to look at their choices in light of the Bible … even if those patients express spiritual conviction about what they’re doing. And in one of the most outrageous “rights of conscience” cases ADF has yet defended, a New Mexico photographer is at risk to lose her business simply because she demurred when asked to take pictures at a same-sex “marriage” ceremony.
