Senate passes Respect for Marriage Act; bill now heads to House

By Julie Asher Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Ahead of the U.S. Senate's Nov. 29 61-to-36 vote approving the Respect for Marriage Act, the chairmen of two U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committees reiterated the bishops' " firm opposition" to the "misnamed" measure legalizing same-sex marriage.

In a Nov. 23 joint letter to all members of Congress, the chairmen said they were writing "to implore Congress to reverse course" on H.R. 8404, also known as RMA.

The Senate advanced the measure with a 62-37 vote Nov. 16. Its final vote passing the bill sends it back to the House for a vote. If it passes that chamber, President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.

The U.S. House first passed the bill July 19 with a large, bipartisan vote of 267-157, but now the House must take up the Senate's amended version.

Issuing the joint letter were Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the USCCB's Committee for Religious Liberty, and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

"Tragically, Congress's consideration of RMA now takes place in the wake of the horrific attack in Colorado Springs," they said, referring to the mass shooting at an LGBTQ bar in Colorado that left six people dead and many more injured. "We echo the statement of our brother Bishop (James R.) Golka of Colorado Springs in condemnation of this senseless crime."

"Our opposition to RMA by no means condones any hostility toward anyone who experiences same-sex attraction," Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Barron said. "Catholic teaching on marriage is inseparable from Catholic teaching on the inherent dignity and worth of every human being. To attack one is to attack the other. Congress must have the courage to defend both."

The bill codifies the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that found a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. It also codifies interracial marriage.

In a Nov. 17 statement after the bill advanced in the Senate, Cardinal Dolan called it "a bad deal for the many courageous Americans of faith and no faith who continue to believe and uphold the truth about marriage in the public square today."

"It is deeply concerning that the U.S. Senate has voted to proceed toward potential passage of the Respect for Marriage Act," he said. "(It) does not strike a balance that appropriately respects our nation's commitment to the fundamental right of religious liberty."

In their joint letter, Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Barron said that measure's "rejection of timeless truths about marriage is evident on its face and in its purpose." They repeated the cardinal's earlier point that it "would also betray our country’s commitment to the fundamental right of religious liberty."

The text of their letter and a lengthy detailed analysis by the USCCB on how the bill, if it becomes law, endanger religious liberty can be found at https://bit.ly/3H22Z74.

"First, the bill will be used to argue that the government has a compelling interest in forcing religious organizations and individuals to treat same-sex civil marriages as valid," the analysis said.

An amendment to the bill says it "protects all religious liberty and conscience protections available under the Constitution or federal law, including but not limited to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and prevents this bill from being used to diminish or repeal any such protection."

It also "confirms that nonprofit religious organizations will not be required to provide any services, facilities, or goods for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage."

The amendment was worked out by a bipartisan group of negotiators -- headed by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Susan Collins, R-Maine -- who had asked the Senate for more time to consider "an amendment designed to respond to the concerns of GOP lawmakers who feared the legislation could put churches and other religious institutions at legal risk if Congress voted to codify same-sex marriage rights."

With the amendment, 12 Republicans joined every Democrat in supporting the marriage bill.

But the USCCB analysis said that even with the amendment, under the bill "religious objectors are likelier to be denied exemptions under the First Amendment and RFRA in cases where they would have prevailed but for the passage of RMA."

The measure "would have a ripple effect that hurts religious freedom in every context where conflicts with same-sex marriage arise, not just in the context of compliance with RMA itself," the analysis said.

"Employment decisions, employees’ spousal benefits, eligibility for grants or contracts, accreditation, tax exemptions -- it runs the full gamut, even in religious liberty conflicts arising out of state or local laws," it added.

"Unfortunately, a number of religious groups and senators are asserting that the amended text of RMA sufficiently protects religious freedom," Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Barron said in their letter.

They added that from the perspective of the USCCB, "whose bishops' ministries comprise the largest nongovernmental provider of social services" in the U.S., the provisions of the bill "that relate to religious liberty are insufficient."

"The amended act will put the ministries of the Catholic Church, people of faith and other Americans who uphold a traditional meaning of marriage at greater risk of government discrimination," the two prelates said.

"This bill is needless and harmful and must be voted down," they said. "At the same time, Congress, and our nation as a whole, must resolve to foster a culture where every individual, as a child of God, is treated with respect and compassion."

Ahead of the House vote in July, the chairmen of the U.S. bishops' pro-life and marriage and family committees wrote a joint letter to House members urging they reject the measure.

The Respect for Marriage Act repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, signed into Law by President Bill Clinton. It barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage, until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law unconstitutional in 2013.

The push in Congress to codify a right to same-sex marriage in federal law followed an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas in the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.

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