A conservative attorney is warning that America is "entering a cultural civil war" following the legalization of same-sex marriage, and encouraged the public to push back against the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of gay nuptials.
Liberty University attorney Mathew Staver answers reporters questions outside a federal courthouse in Richmond, Thursday May 16, 2013 (Christopher Breedlove/AP)
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal firm, told TheBlaze that he believes that Christians are poised to encounter increased challenges in the public square, but that he also believes people will stand up to defend themselves.
"The assault against Christians will increase, but the resistance will also increase," Staver said. "We are entering a cultural civil war."
The attorney said that his organization will continue to defend religious liberty and will fight to help Christians facing related challenges.
Staver went on to lambaste the five supreme court justices who legalized gay marriage — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer — and urged the public to "resist" their opinion.
"We should instead resist the opinion of five lawyers who have no authority to impose their will without one shred of Constitutional authority," he said. "We must not pretend that their opinion is the rule of law. It is not."
Staver also pushed back against the “Protect Thy Neighbor” initiative that was recently launched by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a First Amendment watchdog, accusing the organization of being an "anti-Christian group" that "represents the objective in the radical agenda to crush Christian viewpoints."
As TheBlaze previously reported, the "Protect Thy Neighbor" effort bills itself as “an aggressive, multi-pronged initiative to fight the growing idea that ‘religious freedom’ gives people a right to thwart marriage equality for LGBT Americans, deny women access to reproductive care and use taxpayer dollars to discriminate.”
The project is seemingly aimed at conservative Christians who oppose same-sex nuptials and are looking for various protections. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said in a press release issued on Tuesday that many people are reacting to the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex nuptials by incorrectly arguing that religious liberty provides a “license to discriminate.”
Lynn said in a press release issued last week that many people are reacting to the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex nuptials by incorrectly arguing that religious liberty provides a “license to discriminate.”
“That’s a corruption of a noble concept, and we don’t intend to stand for it,” he said.
Read more about the debate here.
