Few sentiments

U.S. entry ban legal after all © Jae C. Hong

Religious communities' reactions to U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning entry of people from predominantly Muslim countries remain muted. The Catholic Church is still keeping a low profile.

While the U.S. Catholic bishops on Tuesday welcomed a California-related abortion ruling in a timely manner, no comment on the entry ban was available from them by Wednesday morning. They had clearly spoken of "blatant religious discrimination" in a letter to the court prior to the decision.

Few evangelical voices

The "Sisters of Mercy", on the other hand, were very clear. Order called ruling disappointing. He said it was "contrary to the country's basic principles and values". The president of the ecumenical lay initiative Faith and Public Life, John Gehring, said the ruling tramples on religious freedom. "Imagine a ban on entry for people from countries with heavily Catholic populations," said Gehring.

So far, voices from the evangelical spectrum and the Christian right in the U.S. in particular, which are usually vocal on religious freedom ies, have been hard to hear. It's troubling to see double standards, Fordham University Catholic law professor Jed Shugerman told The Washington Post. "When it comes to religious liberty, there are religions that receive more protection for conscience and their freedoms than others."This is alarming.

Unequal treatment of religious freedom

Harvard University constitutional law professor Noah Feldman raised the question of whether religious freedom in the U.S. applies equally to all religious communities. The verdict of the Constitutional Court gives the impression that the court "cares about the evangelicals" but not about the rights of Muslims.

In its ruling, the court had emphasized the authority of the U.S. president in the entry ban. Majority of conservative judges declined to use context of Trump's Islam-critical remarks in reaching verdict. In the case decided in early June of an evangelical baker who would not make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, the majority argued to the contrary.