In the wake of same-sex marriage being imposed on Utah, a bill Sen. Mike Lee introduced in the Senate Dec. 12 seems timely and important. The “Marriage and Religious Freedom Act” would prevent the Internal Revenue Service from denying tax-exempt status to any person or group that refuses to perform gay marriages.

“What we’re talking about here is the freedom of religious belief, the freedom of a church, for example, to adhere to its own religious doctrine so that it cannot be discriminated against by the government,” said in a media interview.

According to an article in News Max, “Lee said the federal government’s failure to protect religious liberty – citing Obamacare mandates for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs – was a key motivation for him to introduce the “Marriage and Religious Freedom Act,” which protects clergy from being punished if they refuse to perform gay marriages.

“This is something that the overwhelming majority of Americans would support and the overwhelming majority of Americans would be disappointed if they discovered Congress would be unwilling to pass something like this,” Lee said.

Lee’s bill was introduced before Congress recessed for the holidays. It has the support of Republican Sens. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. A bipartisan companion measure in the House is sponsored by Republican Reps. Raul Labrador of Idaho and Chris Smith of New Jersey, as well as Democrats Dan Lipinski of Illinois and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina.

Read the entire article here.