What should Catholics think?
The Diocese of Little Rock, which encompasses the entire state of Arkansas, has not yet commented publicly on Issue 3. CNA reached out to the diocese for comment.
However, Bishop Anthony Taylor offered a fulsome analysis of Act 975 in 2015.
“In the United States religious liberty is our first and most cherished liberty. It is a God-given right protected by our nation’s Constitution, federal law, and now state law. Not only Catholics, but people of all religious faiths and worshipping communities in our country need to be free to live their faith and act according to their conscience without fear of government interference,” Taylor wrote at the time.
Taylor noted that some observers had characterized Act 975 as a license to discriminate against those who identify as LGBT. He said that Catholics’ right to decline to participate in LGBT ceremonies or activities does not amount to discrimination or hatred but is rather an exercise of their right to practice their own faith.
“Choosing not to participate in certain ceremonies or activities due to religious convictions is not discrimination against the persons involved, nor is it necessarily an expression of hatred toward the persons involved,” Taylor wrote.
“Rather, it is very simply a choice to abstain from participating in conduct or actions that may be irreconcilable with one’s sincere religious beliefs, and it is the right to abstain from these actions which the Arkansas Religious Freedom Restoration Act seeks to protect. The Catholic Church teaches and believes that all persons (including LGBT persons) have an inherent worth and dignity, and that all persons, precisely because they are persons, should be accorded dignity and respect.”
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