Kansas Governor Issues Executive Order Protecting Religious Organizations
In a move that has been applauded by many in the Christian community, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback issued an executive order Tuesday prohibiting the state from taking action against clergy or religious social service agencies who refuse service to same-sex couples due to their religious beliefs.
According to a press release from the Governor’s Office, Executive Order 15-05, “Preservation and Protection of Religious Freedom,” argues that both the United States Constitution and the State of Kansas have provisions which restrict government interference with the right of individuals to practice religion according to their consciences.
Thus, Brownback’s order explicitly prohibits state officials from taking “discriminatory action” against both clergy members and religious organizations who apply that religious practice to facilitation of services for homosexual couples.
“The State Government is prohibited from taking any action inconsistent with the restrictions placed upon the State Government by the United States Constitution, or the Kansas Constitution, or the Kansas Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, against any individual clergy, religious leader, or religious organization on the basis that such person or organization believes or sincerely acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman,” the order reads.
[Listen to Kansas’s Secretary of State discuss the need for the states to resist the federal government]
Brownback’s order comes less than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry in all 50 states. Among other states, the SCOTUS decision overturned the will of 70 percent of Kansas voters who, in 2005, approved an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. (Read more from “Kansas Governor Issues Executive Order Protecting Religious Organizations” HERE)
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