Remember way back when Ryan T. Anderson said ENDA would threaten the religious freedoms of Christian business owners and people of faith? Well, he said it:

“While it is unclear which religious organizations would be exempted from ENDA, it is clear that the bill would not exempt those who wish to run their businesses and other organizations in keeping with their moral or religious values. Additionally, ENDA’s religious liberty protections extend only to businesses directly run by a church or religious organizations. As a result, other religious business owners would be exposed to significant liabilities. Consider, for instance, a Christian bookstore not formally incorporated as a religious organization. Such a store could be accused of creating a hostile work environment by selling and promoting books stating that marriage unites one man with one woman. Clearly, ENDA would create enormous legal risks for businesses that allowed their employees to express traditional religious teachings on sexuality. Anti-discrimination law ought not to silence religious believers.”

Do you also remember when Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek said ENDA doesn’t protect people of faith? That’s what she said:

“The problem is that ENDA fails to justly advance the dignity of all workers job creators and employers. And instead it legislates discrimination towards people of faith; people who have conscientious beliefs or moral beliefs about sexuality about marriage and about morality.”

The idea that the religious convictions and conscience rights of people of faith will be protected and respected in a post-ENDA nation is absurd. If it becomes law that you cannot “discriminate” on the basis of gender identity there will be no legal recourse for Christian business owners who want to conduct their business in accordance with their faith. It is a foregone certainty that many will be forced to hire people whose lifestyle stands in direct opposition to the core values of the business.

Additionally, we can be reasonably certain that public schools will be transformed as ENDA provides the needed boost to ensure “bathroom bills” already causing turmoil in some states become commonplace. The end result is a society where people of faith are forced by government mandate to affirm and approve of lifestyles that their religious beliefs do not.

One needs to look no farther than events in Europe to see this being played out in reality. A homosexual couple not satisfied with merely having the right to legally marry is suing to ask the government to force churches to perform same-sex “weddings.” A recent article states:

“A few short weeks after Britain’s Parliament redefined marriage to include same-sex couples, two disgruntled men are suing the Church of England for the one thing still ‘denied’ them – a church wedding. Britain’s new legislation legalizing same-sex marriage includes a provision that protects churches from being forced to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies. But homosexual couple Barrie and Tony Drewitt-Barlow have set out to demolish that protection for churches because it stands in the way of their coveted church wedding…Imagine that – a house of worship being forced by the civil government to celebrate a union that not only violates the church’s beliefs, but mocks God’s definition of marriage.”

Another example from across the ocean comes from New Zealand where a man sued the Anglican Church for refusing to ordain him after admitting he was in a homosexual relationship. Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley commented:

“Although it may be surprising that a person engaged in an active homosexual relationship would attempt to use the rule of law to force the Anglican Church to accept him as a priest, these types of claims may become more common in the future.  Many countries, and almost every State in the United States have some form of ‘anti-discrimination’ law that includes protection based on the categories of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.’  These laws have remained largely dormant until now.  If these laws are used against churches, then the autonomy of the Church is most certainly in jeopardy.”

It is easy to connect the dots and see that if the government can force Christian business owners and other people of faith in the public sector to violate their religious convictions and affirm certain lifestyles, that it will not be long before any supposed “religious protections” for churches will be wiped out. Already one town in Kansas is considering a government mandate to force churches to rent their facilities for homosexual wedding ceremonies.

The fact is, ENDA is a back door to eliminate the free exercise of religious beliefs in the public sector. It is a tool that will be used to further suppress the religious rights of millions of American with a traditional Christian faith. Employers will be forced to hire people that don’t adhere to their company mission statement, schools and day care’s will be forced to employ people whose lives stand in opposition to the statement of faith, and ultimately churches and church associated ministries will be required to hire, employ, and even ordain those whose lives stand in direct opposition to biblical doctrine.

Conscience and religious exemptions are a trick that will eventually be wiped out, but in the mean time Christian business owners are not safe from the damaging effects of ENDA. Our Founding Father’s would be appalled at the mention of such legislation and would certainly not consider supporting it. Our lawmakers need to know just how opposed we are to ENDA. Take action now and urge Congress to reject ENDA.