Must We Handover Conscience for Citizenship?

In an article at his blog entitled "'It is the Price of Citizenship'?—An Elegy for Religious Liberty in America," Dr. Albert Mohler discusses a recent case in New Mexico where a Christian couple  lost a case at that state's supreme court. The couple refused to photograph a homosexual commitment ceremony (gay marriage is not legal there yet) citing the fact that as Christians such particpation would give implicit agreement to the event. In essence, the court's verdict requires Christians to be willing to take pictures at a commitment ceremony for a homosexual couple.

Mohler notes

The court concluded: “When Elane Photography refused to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony, it violated the NMHRA [New Mexico Human Rights Act] in the same way as if it had refused to photograph a wedding between people of different races.” 

[You may want to read the blog "Is Gay the New Black" if you are wondering about this argument]

Such argumentation is, at this point, "old hat." What makes the decision so breath taking is the fact that the justices recognize that the photographers' religious liberty and conscience are being violated but simply say it is the new price of citizenship. Justice Bosson wrote:

As devout, practicing Christians, they believe, as a matter of faith, that certain commands of the Bible are not left open to secular interpretation; they are meant to be obeyed. Among these commands, according to the Huguenins [the Christian couple], is an injunction against same-sex marriage. On the record before us, no one has questioned the Huguenin’s [sic] devoutness or their sincerity; their religious convictions deserve our respect. In the words of their legal counsel, the Huguenins “believed that creating photographs telling the story of that event [a same-sex wedding] would express a message contrary to their sincerely held beliefs, and that doing so would disobey God.” If honoring same-sex marriage would so conflict with their fundamental religious tenets . . . how then, they ask, can the State of New Mexico compel them to “disobey God” in this case?

 Then he goes on to write,

“At its heart, this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others....In short, I would say to the Huguenins [the Christian couple], with the utmost respect: it is the price of citizenship.” 

Simply breathtaking. Mohler summarizes it well in his article when he says,

So the price of citizenship is the denial of religious liberty when the Christian convictions of this couple run into a head-on collision with the “contrasting values” of others. This is a “compromise” that requires the Huguenins [the Christian photographers] to give up their convictions or go out of business. What does the “compromise” require of those who push for the normalization of same-sex relationships and the legalization of same-sex marriage? Nothing.

Some compromise.