The First Amendment Defense Act is actually bad for religious freedom

As an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, I am occasionally asked to stand with a couple in front of their family and friends to officiate their wedding. Over the years, I’ve been honored to perform marriage ceremonies for dozens of couples, and had the pleasure of celebrating dozens more weddings of my relatives, friends and colleagues — some gay and others straight.

These couples all have one thing in common: They love each other and have committed to live their lives together. They all equally deserve the full legal rights, protections and benefits of marriage.

Which brings me to my day job: advocating for the fundamental American value of religious freedom. Recently, though, I’ve had to devote much of my time to fight efforts of those who seek to misuse religious liberty to assail some of the marriages I’ve celebrated — those of same-sex couples. 

Right now my attention is focused on HR 2802, the deceptively named First Amendment Defense Act, or FADA. A committee in the U.S. House of Representatives is holding a hearing on this harmful bill today (July 12)....
http://religionnews.com/2016/07/12/the-first-amendment-defense-act-is-actually-bad-for-religious-freedom/