As the country grows increasingly accepting of gay rights, businesses are following suit. A slim majority of Americans now back same-sex marriage and such unions are now legal in dozens of states. This public assault on big business comes as major companies have become a powerful force in the debate on gay rights. It’s a demonstration of how the community remains closely aligned with the GOP, and it makes the harsh words from Republican elected officials this year all the more striking. READ: Seeking to court evangelicals, Bush delivers commencement address at Liberty UniversityĬorporate leaders have chosen their words carefully, casting their defense of gay rights as a straightforward business decision rather than an attack on the ideological beliefs of Christian conservatives. “And they’d better be prepared to meet some opposition, because there are millions and millions of evangelical Christians in America and they have a choice about who they do business with.” “Parts of the business community will continue to pander to the loudest voice until they meet opposition,” Land said. Richard Land, the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the business community is increasingly holding hands with the “totalitarian wing of the left,” deploying “bully boy tactics” to pressure Christians to abandon their deeply held religious convictions. The 2016 GOP candidates must “stand up for religious liberty” and point the finger at the “real bigots,” Gingrich added: “The real bigots are the people who are saying, ‘I deny you the right to freedom.’” “Big businesses – a lot of them are people who want to feel good when they go to their country club and want to feel like they’ve taken the socially correct position as defined by The New York Times,” Gingrich said in an interview. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and 2012 presidential candidate, blasted corporate America for succumbing to cultural pressure to impose “whatever language and other requirements the gay community wants.” Mike Huckabee could give social conservatives a bullhorn to defend their priorities and turn 2016 into a referendum on the GOP’s future. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Arkansas Gov. The White House bids of candidates like Sen. Religious leaders could suffer another setback this summer if the Supreme Court rules gay couples nationwide have a constitutional right to marriage, a move many major corporate leaders are hoping to see.Ĭhristian activists are vowing to strike back and plan to use the 2016 presidential campaign to advance their cause. The presidential race is shaping up to be a full-scale war for the soul of the Republican Party.Ĭhristian conservatives have launched a fierce offensive against corporate leaders, and the attacks seem certain to intensify in the coming months as GOP presidential hopefuls work to prove their ideological bona fides.Įvangelicals have already lost several major fights this year, most prominently in Indiana and Arkansas, where Republicans – facing furious condemnation from major businesses and LGBT activists – had to backtrack on so-called religious freedom laws that critics warned would allow discrimination against gay customers.
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