Justice Alito: Religious Liberty Is in Danger in America

Justice Alito: Religious Liberty Is in Danger in America

Generally choosing to let their written opinions on various cases speak for themselves, most Supreme Court Justices tend to keep their thoughts on the issues facing America to themselves, but every once in a while, one of them will speak out and share their concerns.
Justice Samuel Alito, appointed to the high court in 2006 by former President George W. Bush, recently spoke at a gathering of Catholic judges and lawyers known as Advocati Christi in New Jersey and issued a stark warning about the threats facing religious liberty in this country, according to The Associated Press.
Citing his own dissent in the controversial 2015 Obergefell v Hodges Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, Alito reminded listeners that opposition to the decision would be utilized to “vilify those who disagree, and treat them as bigots.”
“We are seeing this is coming to pass,” Alito said, quoting iconic rock star Bob Dylan’s famous song lyric, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
“A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs,” he said.
“We are likely to see pitched battles in courts and Congress, state legislatures and town halls,” Alito said. “But the most important fight is for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. It is up to all of us to evangelize our fellow Americans about the issue of religious freedom.”
Alito spoke for nearly 45 minutes, and mentioned people as far-ranging as Dylan and the 1960s sitcom “The Flying Nun,” as well as more traditional mentions of the Founding Fathers and 19th-century French author Alexis de Tocqueville.
He also discussed how the Catholic faith has always been met with some hostility throughout the history of America, and how overjoyed he was as a child to see John F. Kennedy elected as the first Roman-Catholic president of this nation.
“I felt it had lifted me up from the status of second-class American,” he said.
Alito is absolutely right that Americans who maintain “traditional moral beliefs” are being treated with increasing hostility from the decidedly anti-Christian progressive wing of the country.
If well known people of faith don’t stand up and defend themselves against the relentless attacks — both in the courts and society in general — it won’t be long before everyone with such beliefs is treated as a “second-class American” to be easily marginalized and dismissed by the progressive left.