One of the many advantages of my 1960s deep South upbringing is to have witnessed the 60-year stealth war waged upon my community by the progressive left. The era of my youth produced a segregated Black community nationwide that led our nation in the growth of its middle class.
The tenets that defined it — faith, family, entrepreneurship and education — were founded upon a strong faith in God. Over the decades, the progressive left has, with maniacal patience, dismantled these tenets.
Seeing firsthand the destructive nature of the progressive left, I chose to stand recently as the only “present” vote in the House in regard to the Respect for Marriage Act. Doing so allows me an opportunity to be a vocal warning beacon against the left’s strategy to usurp our constitutionally granted free speech rights.
I understand the playbook of this ideology. It is one that thrives on stealth, deception and the naivety of good people. My warning, therefore, is to well-intentioned people on both sides of this issue — Democrats, Republicans, people straight or gay, small business owners, religious and nonreligious people — who simply want to be left alone to pursue their dreams.
This space of compromise, which accepts that good people can respectfully agree to disagree, is not tolerated by those who subscribe to the inherently divisive ideology of Marxism.
There is a good, bad and ugly aspect to the Respect for Marriage Act. The good aspect is for churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, nondenominational ministries, interdenominational and ecumenical organizations, mission organizations, faith-based social agencies, religious educational institutions and nonprofit entities. This bill codifies religious liberty protection as granted in the First Amendment of the Constitution. These organizations no longer have to fear frivolous lawsuits or the possibility of a future leftist-stacked Supreme Court.
The bad aspect is that these religious liberty protections have not been extended to individuals and faith-based small businesses. These continue to be open and vulnerable to anti-discrimination litigation, ruined reputations and bankruptcy. They remain in the crosshairs of anti-religious state attorneys general.
The ugly aspect lies within the progressive’s DNA, which dictates the need to instinctively attack the most vulnerable and weakest among us. With any religious freedom victory, even partial, progressive bullies pivot immediately to focus on the most vulnerable target, the independent small-business owner.
The Respect for Marriage Act gives Americans of all stripes an opportunity to adopt a tactic used in general by the left — incremental success. One First Amendment victory at a time, rulings by the judiciary, later codified by Congress, can provide opportunities for Americans to claw back their stolen culture.
There is now a case in front of the Supreme Court regarding an independent website designer, who is fighting to assert her free-expression rights. If she prevails, it would be a victory for small businesses and individual freedom of expression. It would end the progressive’s strategy of using same-sex and interracial marriage as a tool to divide good people. As it should be, the defining factor in this equation would be the American people. It would be up to an engaged and educated “We the People” to elect patriotic, God-loving representatives who will stand for, fight for and vote to codify the judiciary’s small-business free-speech ruling.
Religious freedom can prevail only if individuals and small-business owners are equally protected to practice their sincere religious beliefs. Protecting churches and religious organizations is a good first step, but it just scratches the surface regarding the full scope of First Amendment rights. Let’s stand together for the God-given rights enumerated in the Constitution. They are designed to unite a society that thrives on diversity, and to defeat ideologies, like Marxism, that work to divide.
Burgess Owens represents Utah’s 4th Congressional District.