The Supreme Court has just ruled against the city of Philadelphia, which was trying to prevent Catholic Social Services (CSS) from helping children in foster care to be placed in homes, due to views of the CSS on same-sex marriage. Had the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, the case would have been hailed as a pride month victory. But the Supreme Court took another route. And that should give us hope that it doesn’t all have to be about sex and politics. Sometimes it can be about our common humanity and the needs of the most vulnerable.

“Maximizing the number of foster families and minimizing liability are important goals, but the City fails to show that granting an exception to CSS will put those goals at risk. available foster parents. “Thank you, Chief Justice John Roberts, for writing this in the decision. Thank you, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer for joining you in this unanimous decision. agreement on a lot of things, and that’s what makes this decision a treasure.

The ruling reminds me of a book by Mary Eberstadt, “It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies,” published in 2016. It was presented as a plea from a conservative Christian to people of goodwill on the left, saying that the secular mentality goes too far when it loses sight of pluralism and becomes hostile to real and lived religion.

Eberstadt claimed that the Sexual Revolution effectively established a religion to rival Judeo-Christian morality. This new credo “elevates pleasure and personal will to the rank of first principles”. This understanding “explains the inordinate hostility towards believers who minded their own affairs, or tried to educate their children, or expressed their faith in public forums – or behaved in ways that once did not encourage no sanctions and who are doing it now ”.

This is what prompted the City of Philadelphia to sever ties with CSS, a historic and top player in foster care and adoption, due to its vision of marriage and family. . And the good news is that the Supreme Court agrees with Eberstadt. Things have gone too far.

The ruling suggests that we can, in fact, work together for the good of children, even when we adults disagree on some basic things.

“The government does not act in a neutral manner when it proceeds in a manner that is intolerant of religious beliefs or restricts practices because of their religious nature,” Roberts wrote in the ruling. Once again, thank you, Chief Justice John Roberts! This is how we live together, protecting religious freedom, even when we have disagreements about the nature of marriage and the human person.

In ‘It’s Dangerous to Believe’, writes Eberstadt: ‘Reasonable people of a-religious or even anti-religious inclination might also err on the side of magnanimity by recognizing the possibility that believers have something to offer society. as a whole – including not only their charitable operations, but also their growing criticism of a revolution that continues to transform the entire world. “

She quotes Jonathan Rauch, who was a supporter of same-sex marriage before it became law, who said: “If Catholic Charities does not want to place children for adoption with same-sex couples in Massachusetts, but many other agencies will make the placement, we can live with that. “And so, that should be in Philadelphia and wherever else there are children in need. As we head into Independence Day, let’s come together for the freedom – true pluralism in the US again This just might lower our political and cultural temperatures.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is a senior member of the National Review Institute, editor-in-chief of National Review magazine and author of the new book “A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living”. She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan’s pro-life commission in New York. She can be contacted at [email protected]