Southern Illinois Congressman Mike Bost says the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right puts clergy in a tough spot.
The Murphysboro republican says he doesn't believe the high court's justices should be deciding issues like this because many churches believe same-sex marriage is not right before God and should not be allowed.
"But, my fear is that ministers that come from a faith that do not believe it's right, can be forced to perform marriage ceremonies, and thus violate what they believe is their oath before God."
...my fear is that ministers that come from a faith that do not believe it's right, can be forced to perform marriage ceremonies, and thus violate what they believe is their oath before God. - 12th District Congressman Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro)
Bost says there is a proposal to take the term "marriage" out of all laws and only refer to civil unions.
He says that would allow churches to decide if they want to use the term "marriage" since it would have no legal status.
"That's a very large step for we the United States. I'm looking that over, I don't know. But, there are a lot of concerns out there."
Bost says, while he still believes the U.S. is the greatest country in the world, he believes the Supreme Court overstepped its bounds in ruling same sex marriage is constitutional.
Bost says he and some of his colleagues were surprised by the Supreme Court's recent decision upholding insurance subsides in Illinois and more than 30 other states.
So much so, the republican says some of his colleagues were ready to move forward with a measure to correct what they see as flaws with the system if the high court ruled the other way.
"We are still preparing to try to move forward to correct the problems that are in Obamacare. We will correct the things we can now if the President says he'll sign them. But, we will be looking forward to the next 16 months in the hopes that the next President will come forward with some ideas to try to aggressively cure the problem, and/or, abolish and replace."
Bost is spending time in the 12th district visiting with business leaders to talk about Congress' approval of Trade Promotion Authority. This allows the President to approve and implement certain international trade agreements under expedited procedures, as long as the President meets certain obligations.
