At the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, church-state experts Robert Tuttle and Ira Lupu discuss the ramifications of current and pending same-sex marriage laws and religious exemptions on potential legal conflicts, in "A Clash of Rights? "
The potential conflict between same-sex marriage and freedom of religion has not yet been presented squarely to the courts. Now that several states recognize these marriages, however, it is quite likely that, in the near future, courts will have to address the issue.
For example, a state might deny financial benefits to a religious organization that discriminates against a member of a same-sex couple, and the organization might challenge that denial in a lawsuit against the state. In such a case, the religious organization might raise religious freedom protections as a legal justification for its policies. In that situation, the courts would need to decide whether these protections trump anti-discrimination laws.
