Fairfax County judge rules in favor of Sikh men ordered to pay fee to have weddings performed

For Virginia’s ‘bearers of tradition’, the times, they are ah changin’ fast. On Monday, Fairfax County Judge Dennis Smith ruled on the side of four (4) Sikh men who filed suit in opposition to a Virginia law that requires religious faiths with no ordained ministers to pay $500 to perform marriage ceremonies.

Judge Smith ruled that the requirement to post a bond is “an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of religion.” The Fairfax County judge ordered that the four (4) Sikh men be licensed to perform marriages without paying the $500 bond to perform weddings.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia represented the four (4) Sikh men and asked the Virginia General Assembly to change the current law to reflect Judge Smith’s ruling on Monday.

For Virginia’s old guard, the world that their forebears knew must appear to be shattering around them. 

First, civil rights for people of color, then a turn away from a rigid religious adherence, abortion rights, same-sex marriage rights (on the way!), and now potentially similar civil rights for peoples of different religious faiths like the Sikhs. Who knows where it will end!

But it shouldn’t have to be a mutually exclusive situation. That is, the opening of civil rights to other groups shouldn’t, in and of itself, be the death knell for the values and beliefs of Virginia’s conservative population.

For too long, Americans have been caught over the debate of civil rights with a rigid winner-takes-all mindset, not allowing for the space of two different ideologies fitting under the roof of our republic. As a result, the victory of one group (e.g., proponents of same-sex marriage) must necessarily be to the total defeat of the opposing group. But this isn’t entirely true.

There can still be morality without state sanctioned religion or high-rates of church goers. There can still be a vigorous 2^nd Amendment with reasonable forms of gun control. Businesses can still thrive under a well thought out system of regulations. Americans of vastly different world-views can still live under the same government without eventually coming to blows.

Our perceptions of the world shape it. So let’s make sure that we view the world with an open mind and yes, an open heart.