U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito recently expressed concern about the decision by Missouri’s state courts to exclude Christians from serving on a particular jury because of their “traditional religious views on questions of sexual morality.” The case involves a woman who identifies as a lesbian suing the Missouri Department of Corrections for job discrimination. The US Supreme Court recently declined to review this chilling decision based on a procedural problem.
Alito rightly harkened back to the concern he mentioned when the high court legalized same-sex marriage. He said then that people who opposed homosexuality and same-sex marriage will eventually risk being unfairly “labeled as bigots and treated as such.” He was right. Religious beliefs shouldn’t exclude one from serving on a jury, just as sex and race can’t be the basis for exclusion.
