Were Are We Heading.

The Supreme Court is bending over backwards on "Religious Freedom" but where are they heading? Down in Texas might be a glimpse of the future.

Largest gay church pushes back on Texas Supreme Court

Baptist News

By Mark Wingfield

October 29, 2025

The pastor of the world’s largest progressive church with a primary outreach to the LGBTQ community issued a statement blasting a Texas Supreme Court assessment that allows state judges to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages based on religious freedom claims.

“This ruling is nothing less than state-sanctioned discrimination and a betrayal of the fundamental promise of equality under the law,” said Neil Thomas, senior pastor at Cathedral of Hope in Dallas. “This decision gives prejudice a platform and power it does not deserve.

“To deny couples the right to marry because of who they love is an affront to both our Constitution and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us be clear: This is not about religious freedom; it is about institutionalizing bias.”

What happens when two religions butt heads... an affirming church vs. a fire and brimstone church on LGBTQ+? How will the courts rule.

Since then [2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges], judges and justices of the peace nationwide have been required to be all in on weddings — for heterosexual as well as homosexual couples — or not officiate weddings at all. In Texas, judicial officials are not required to officiate weddings but may choose to do so.

That case eventually made it to the Texas Supreme Court, which now has issued a comment — not a formal ruling — saying Texas judges who decline to perform weddings based on a “sincerely held religious belief” do not violate the state’s rules on judicial impartiality.

It seems like the court has bended over backwards to give preferential treatment to conservative religions. The Texas Tribune wrote,

 The rule change appears to answer a question of state law that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals posed to the Texas Supreme Court in April, which was prompted by a lawsuit challenging the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s now-withdrawn sanction of a Waco judge who refused to marry gay couples while continuing to marry straight couples. The plaintiff in that suit, a North Texas county judge, sued saying he was afraid he could face the same punishment.

[...]

The court’s clarification amended Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judges from doing things outside their judicial role that would cast doubt on their ability to act impartially or interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties.

Now there is an exception... they can refuse to do their job if is their “sincerely held religious belief” even when it flies in the face of the other people legal rights!

Texas Supreme Court rules that judges can refuse to marry same-sex couples

“It is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief,” the Texas Supreme Court ruled.

The Advocate

By Christopher Wiggins

October 29 2025

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that state judges may decline to perform weddings, including same-sex marriages, based on religious belief. Critics say the move could erode public confidence in the impartiality of the courts and chip away at the practical reach of marriage equality in Texas.

[...]

Josh Rovenger, legal director at GLAD Law, a Boston-based LGBTQ+ legal advocacy group, told The Advocate that while the Texas court’s move is significant, it reflects a broader legal trend rather than a singular break. He noted that in Obergefell and later cases such as Masterpiece Cakeshop and 303 Creative, the U.S. Supreme Court has sought to balance “the dignity of both same-sex couples and individuals with strong religious beliefs.” Those decisions, he said, suggest that the Court has tried to create frameworks in which marriage equality and religious liberty can coexist. From GLAD Law’s perspective, Rovenger noted, the two principles are not inherently incompatible.

Republicans in Texas have gone to great lengths to undo LGBTQ+ rights in the state. Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in September barring transgender people from using bathrooms in state facilities that are in line with their gender identity. Also in September, a professor was fired, and the president of Texas A&M University resigned amid controversy over curriculum materials on LGBTQ+ topics.

This is a lot more than marriage. This is about "religious freedom" being used to erode other people's rights!