Conservative values have been under heavy fire recently in the media and by democratic representatives.
Between attacks on our president and LGBT wolves trying to tear down the framework of the traditional family, it is hard to imagine things could get worse.
But then Virginia makes another law that urges business owners with morals to take action before the state brings them down for their beliefs.
The Daily Wire reports:
“On Tuesday, a photographer in Virginia filed suit against the Virginia Attorney General and the Director of the Virginia Division of Human Rights and Fair Housing to challenge a law that took effect Wednesday that forbids him from publicly explaining on his studio’s own website the religious reasons why he will only celebrate wedding ceremonies between a man and a woman.”
Chris Herring is a brilliant wedding photographer and a man of religious conviction.
He believes that a marriage should be between a man and a woman, and he has a right to publicly state such beliefs according to our Constitution.
Herring is not telling anyone else how to live their life, or demoting their character if they choose a lifestyle in contradiction to his beliefs, only exercising his freedom to run his business as he sees lawful and morally just.
However, the state wants to condemn him for not publicly praising the LGBT lifestyle, claiming his beliefs are discriminatory; not different.
According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, the organization representing photographer Chris Herring, the state of Virginia sees the explanation of religious rights as “discriminatory” against one’s sexual orientation.
But that is not where it ends.
The Daily Wire reports on the ADF’s words concerning what could happen if Herring doesn’t succumb to the liberal demands:
“The new law threatens initial fines of up to $50,000 and then $100,000 per additional violation along with court orders that could force Herring to create photographs and blogs against his conscience if he wants to stay in business.”
It’s not just homosexual weddings that Chris would object to, the lawsuit states, it is also promoting pictures to any act he finds abhorrent, such as “pollution, pornography, or certain views about marriage.”
Ironically, Chris has had LGBT clients, according to the ADF, which is showing more than tolerance.
His offense, however, is not actively celebrating them by putting their pictures up on his websites, as Virginia law not wants him to do.
ADF Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs, director of the ADF Center for Conscience Initiatives, put it perfectly when he said, “Artists shouldn’t be censored, fined, or forced out of business simply for disagreeing with the government’s preferred views.”
It is obvious a liberal governor is trying to intimidate those with Biblical beliefs to turn their back on right and wrong in favor of relative views of the marriage covenant- and more!
This is not the first time the ADF has had to step in to help a photographer defend their right to believe a marriage should be between a man and a woman, as Mommy Underground has previously reported.
In Louisville a Christian photographer had to fight a local ordinance that prohibited her from denying services to same-sex couples.
And what about the cake baker who spent years in court appeals for his right to deny services to same-sex couples because of his religious beliefs, as Mommy Underground has previously reported?
We hope to see Chris Herring come out victorious as the cake baker did!
It is amazing there are men and women in this country who are brave enough to stand up to the government when it attempts to take away foundational rights as a citizen.
Our religious freedom and freedom of speech is a monumental and interwoven aspect of our Constitution and what makes this nation great.
The Virginia law that is attempting to stand erect against the unstoppable force of individual freedoms will likely fall.
Let’s just hope it is before small business owners lose everything.