A group of 40 Christian churches, schools, businesses, and organizations signed a letter urging Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and the Virginia General Assembly to back off recent legislation that forces that religious establishments violate their beliefs regarding sexuality and gender.
The “Virginia Values Act,” named like most Democratic social engineering measures to mislead, was enacted in July and requires even religious institutions to hire people who do not share their views about homosexuality, marriage, and gender as a scientific reality, The Christian Post has reported.
Those who violate the act face potential fines of up to $100,000.
House Bill No. 1429, also passed in July, amended the Virginia Code to force even churches to include sex change operations in their health care plans.
Denise Harle, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom representing the signatories of the letter, told The Christian Post: “Our clients offer spiritual guidance, education, pregnancy support, and athletic opportunities to their communities because of the religious values that motivate them.”
“But Virginia’s new law forces these ministries to abandon their convictions or pay crippling fines. Such government hostility has no place in a free society. Virginia ministries are committed to their faith, and they are asking that the state allow them to live and work according to their beliefs, as other Virginians are permitted to do.”
The letter to Northam and the General Assembly can be read here.`
