An Aitkin County jury ruled in favor of religious freedom last week by affirming that Christian Pharmacist, George Badeaux, did not discriminate against his customers based on sex. The jurors found that the plaintiff failed to prove that Badeaux “intentionally refused to do business with her because of her sex,” but required that the pharmacist pay his customer $25,000 in emotional damages. Even so, this decision from Atkin County is a breath of fresh air in the fight for religious freedom and affirms that the Unites States Constitutions is still recognized as the law of the land.
In 2019, after realizing that an earlier contraceptive did not work, Andrea Anderson sought a morning-after pill from Thrifty White drugstore in McGregor, Minnesota. This drug prevents a woman’s ovaries from releasing eggs and changes the lining in the uterine wall. Citing research, pharmacist George Badeaux denied Ms. Anderson the drug because it could end the life of an unborn child. “If I do anything that prevents that egg from implanting in the uterus … the new life will cease to exist,” he said.
Some believe that Mr. Badeaux’s religious convictions have no place in his work. The Minnesota-based Gender Justice advocacy group filed a lawsuit in 2019, and the case was heard three years later. This case isn’t about contraceptives – it’s about the fundamental “first freedom” to act according to the dictates of one’s conscience, guaranteed to all Americans. Our Constitution protects the rights of anyone to exercise their religious beliefs at home or in the workplace. This right, which is unknown in many other countries, does not only benefit Christians but people of every faith or none.
Pharmacist George Badeaux is a man with deeply-held religious convictions. Like Mr. Badeaux, Christians across the county have strong and sincere beliefs but may fear to express them because of the prospect of retaliation. This case offers encouragement that in Minnesota, the freedom of religion is upheld, so that the beliefs and practices of individuals are protected as they should be.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court declared a right to gay marriage in 2015, the volume of religious freedom court cases has steadily risen. Many will remember the Masterpiece Cakeshop case of 2018. In that decision, the Supreme Court upheld the religious freedom of the cake baker on the grounds that the plaintiff had been openly hostile to the defendant’s religious beliefs. Last week’s decision from the Aitkin County jury brings our state one step closer to maintaining religious freedom as laid out in our national and state founding documents. Each case that protects religious freedom, however small it seems in itself, is another stone added to a wall that shields the beliefs of all people from injustice.
At Minnesota Family Council, we work daily to uphold religious freedom. We desire to see religion expressed freely without the interference of any government, whether local or national. As Christians, God calls us to believe in him and to worship him through our words and deeds. We can celebrate this imperfect ruling, knowing that our religious freedom has been upheld. We need to work tirelessly so that the next religious freedom case—and the next, and the next—yield even better results.
