In a recent article published in Public Discourse titled “Stand Against Unjust Discrimination: Oppose the Equality Act,” Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York details the Equality Act’s pernicious capacity to undermine the flourishing of religion, the family, pluralism, and education in the United States.

The Act purports solely to “protect people who identify as LGBT from discrimination.” However, it also “burdens consciences and severely curtails the rights of religious people to be free to practice their faith.” It forces every American, Dolan argues, to support gender ideology, the redefinition of marriage, and abortion—or face serious legal consequences.

If enacted, the Equality Act will inevitably restrict and suppress fundamental Christian belief and practice. Cardinal Dolan explains:

Much of the language of Scripture and sacred tradition builds on the natural understanding of marriage as a fruitful union between male and female. Christianity becomes incomprehensible if we accept that marriage is based merely on strong affection or that gender can be untethered from biological sex.      

Cardinal Dolan also describes the Equality Act’s implications for the freedom of religious institutions, noting that the Act would dramatically expand the public sphere as an object of government intrusion and reduce the private sphere drastically. Outside of houses of worship, religious institutions will have little liberty to live and share a faith now deemed repugnant to America’s prevailing cultural ideology. He argues:

The Equality Act also expands the meaning of public accommodations. What this means is that some institutions we would not normally think of as public are considered public under the Equality Act. For example, a church is obviously a religious building. But what if the church has a banquet hall that it rents out for events? Most reasonable people would say that the law should not force a church to host an event that it considers to be immoral. But under the Equality Act, if the church is open to the public, then disallowing the celebration of a same-sex civil marriage would be discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.  

Cardinal Dolan concludes:

The Equality Act codifies intolerance, not only for religious people, but for people who have serious, good-faith questions about the transgender political movement. As inheritors of a long tradition on what human flourishing looks like, Christians have a unique contribution to make to today’s conversations about sex and gender. We should have space to make it.

Read the full article: Stand Against Unjust Discrimination: Oppose the Equality Act.