Millions of religious Americans—many in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and many opposed to it—have been anxiously watching to see whether the federal courts would open the door for government to penalize them for living their lives according to their religious beliefs about marriage.  They rightly believed that—regardless of what the federal courts decided about marriage—they should continue to fully affirm all Americans’ inherent rights to live their lives according to their faith.

Ugly periods of anti-religious discrimination against Jews, Catholics, Mormons, and Muslims have taught our nation that protecting people of all religions against discrimination is no less important than protecting gays and lesbians.  People of faith thus had been hoping that if the U.S. Supreme Court created a right to same-sex marriage it would also fulfill its constitutional duty by roundly reaffirming the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Friday’s decision offers these Americans decidedly scant reassurance.

Read the article “What Justices Didn’t Say about Religion Should Worry You” on washingtontimes.com.