How States Weaponize “Values” to Punish Beliefs

In recent years, Cancel Culture has weaponized diversity, equality, and inclusion. The latest addition? Values. Virginia recently passed the so-called “Virginia Values Act,” which demands lockstep adherence from businesses, organizations, and religious institutions to the state’s mandated views on marriage, sex, and the differences between men and women. The Act threatens every Virginian business and organization—including artists and even churches—with up to $100,000 in fines if they fail to fall in line with these government-mandated views. That means a Christian photographer like Bob Updegrove, who gladly serves everyone, is forced—under the Virginia Values Act—to use his artistic talents to photograph same-sex weddings if he photographs weddings between one man and one woman. Incredibly, the Virginia Values Act also forbids Bob from publicly explaining on his own website the religious reasons why he only celebrates wedding ceremonies between one man and one woman. But the Virginia Values Act doesn’t stop there. It even extends the long arm of the government into churches, religious schools, and pro-life pregnancy centers. The Act threatens churches and other faith-based organizations from exercising their right to minister and hire employees according to their mission and core beliefs. Virginia’s official seal and motto celebrates America’s hard-won victory of liberty over tyranny. Yet, its current lawmakers now think they can demand that a church choose between potential bankruptcy and abandoning basic beliefs shared by billions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims all over the world. And it’s all under the guise of “Virginia values.” LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for more in our series of videos about why freedom matters. FOLLOW us! Facebook: 👉https://www.facebook.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom Twitter: 👉https://twitter.com/AllianceDefends Instagram: 👉https://www.instagram.com/alliancedefendingfreedom Parler: 👉https://parler.com/profile/AllianceDefendingFreedom/posts See more Freedom Matters episodes here 👉 https://ADFlegal.org/freedom-matters

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