Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf
Page Number: 92

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

15 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

religions.  Ibid.  By the 1780’s, however, “America was in
the  wake  of  a  great  religious  revival”  marked  by  a  move
toward free exercise of religion.  Id., at 1437.  Every State
save Connecticut adopted protections for religious freedom
in  their  State  Constitutions  by  1789,  id.,  at  1455,  and,  of 
course, the First Amendment enshrined protection for the 
free exercise of religion in the U. S. Constitution.  But that 
protection  was  far  from  the  last  word  on  religious  liberty
in this country, as the Federal Government and the States 
have  reaffirmed  their  commitment  to  religious  liberty  by
codifying protections for religious practice.  See, e.g., Reli-
gious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 107 Stat. 1488, 42
U. S. C. §2000bb et seq.; Conn. Gen. Stat. §52–571b (2015). 
the 
States—have  cautioned  the  Court  that  its  decision  here 
will  “have  unavoidable  and  wide-ranging  implications
for  religious  liberty.”    Brief  for  General  Conference  of 
Seventh-Day  Adventists  et  al.  as  Amici  Curiae  5.    In  our  
society, marriage is not simply a governmental institution;
it  is  a  religious  institution  as  well.    Id.,  at  7.    Today’s
decision  might  change  the  former,  but  it  cannot  change 
the  latter.  It  appears  all  but  inevitable  that  the  two  will 
come into conflict, particularly as individuals and churches
are confronted with demands to participate in and endorse
civil marriages between same-sex couples. 

Numerous  amici—even  some  not  supporting 

The majority appears unmoved by that inevitability.  It 
makes  only  a  weak  gesture  toward  religious  liberty  in  a
single  paragraph,  ante,  at  27.  And  even  that  gesture
indicates  a  misunderstanding  of  religious  liberty  in  our 
Nation’s  tradition.  Religious  liberty  is  about  more  than 
just the protection for “religious organizations and persons 
. . .  as  they  seek  to  teach  the  principles  that  are  so  ful-
filling  and  so  central  to  their  lives  and  faiths.”    Ibid. 
Religious  liberty  is  about  freedom  of  action  in  matters  of
religion generally, and the scope of that liberty is directly
correlated  to  the  civil  restraints  placed  upon  religious