Guest Column: Local clergy ‘break the ice’ on Pastors Protection Act

Should the government compel a pastor or a religious organization to act in a manner that violates core tenets of their religious faith? Recent developments around the nation have had a chilling effect on the First Amendment rights of the faith community.

As the Ohio Senate decides on House Bill 36 in the eleventh hour of the legislative session, several local clergy have voiced their support of H.B. 36 to protect clergy and to secure religious freedom.

With 40 co-sponsors, H.B. 36 easily won with bipartisan support 59-29 in June. But with the legislative session coming to a conclusion at the end of the year, the legislation still has not gotten out of committee and scheduled for floor vote.

Reverend Brian Phillips of New Beginnings Freewill Baptist Church believes “most Ohioans support this common sense measure (H.B. 36). We still live in a free country and people want the government to stay out of people’s personal beliefs. The First Amendment was designed to provide a wall of separation between church and state.”

Nonetheless, an Idaho city in 2015 threatened to arrest and fine two ordained ministers for not performing same-sex marriages. The following year the State of Iowa claimed it had the power to regulate what churches can teach about human sexuality and how they operate their facilities.”

According to H.B. 36 which is being considered, “No ordained or licensed minister or religious society is required to solemnize a marriage that does not conform to the ordained or licensed minister’s or religious society’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

It also states that “No religious society is required to allow any building or property of the religious society to be used to host a marriage ceremony for a marriage that does not conform to the religious society’s sincerely held religious beliefs.

It’s no small matter that the State of New Jersey in 2012 forced a privately-owned Methodist Association Boardwalk Pavilion to host wedding ceremonies that contradicted its religious doctrine. This was despite the fact that other facilities were available to host the disputed ceremonies. Prior to the mandate, the clergy pavilion had been dedicated for religious purposes: hosting religious services, revival gatherings, and gospel music programs.

Reverend DeWayne Smith of the Main Street United Methodist Church says congregations that provide valuable services to the public are being discriminated against all the time for their religious beliefs.

“Tolerance is a two-way street. People do not forget when the Mayor of Houston in 2015 subpoenaed five pastors for communications between their congregations of religious speech she personally opposed. There is no doubt this was a form of bullying.

“The First Amendment did not prevent Kim Davis from being thrown into jail by a Kentucky judge for five days, or Aaron and Melissa Klein from being fined $135,000 by the State of Oregon and issued a gag order on their religious speech. Clearly the government has demonstrated a recent record of hostility towards religion and H.B. 36 could enhance existing guaranteed rights of all clergy religious views, not just a select few.”

With the passage of H.B. 36, clergy would be immune from civil or criminal liability. Neither the state nor a political subdivision of the state could penalize or withhold any benefit or privilege from the ordained or licensed minister or religious society, including any governmental contract, grant, or license.

Both pastors point out the recent assault of chaplains in the military that underscores the need for H.B. 36 for Ohio clergy.

Decorated Army Chaplain Scott Squires faced court martial in 2013 for not participating in a marriage retreat that violated the tenants of his Baptist faith. Similarly, Lieutenant Commander Chaplain Wesley Modder was threatened with removal from the Navy In 2015 because he expressed the beliefs of his endorsing church on faith, sexuality, and the nature of marriage during private spiritual counseling.

According to Phillips, “Our government is not a theocracy; therefore it should stop acting like one. Every freedom is on a slippery slope when the government acts as a board of theology determining orthodoxy.”

“We hope President Larry Obhof and the Ohio Senate understand the reinforcement H.B. 36 could provide clergy. Churches initiate countless charitable causes because of their fundamental faith in the Bible. The way society is trending, we won’t even have sanctuary in our own churches.”

Reverend El Akuchie is Coordinator of the Richland Community Prayer Network, founded in 1998 and based in Mansfield, Ohio