A panel of legal experts addressed publishers and retailers during a Sunday afternoon breakout session called “Setting a Defense Against Activism” at the 2015 International Christian Retail Show in Orlando, Florida. The breakout session followed an hour-long general session on “Religious Liberty: Can You Be a Christian and in Business?”

Craig Parshall, a constitutional law and policy consultant to Christian organizations and special counsel to American Center for Law & Justice; Douglas Napier, senior counsel, executive vice president and chief alliance officer, Alliance Defending Freedom; and Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty talked about the current legal landscape for Christians.

The session was designed to offer practical nuts and bolts of what publishers and retailers can do to protect their businesses as the industry figures out the after-effects of the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage and and the impact on Christian businesses.

“Over time, there has been little, incremental nips and tucks to our religious freedoms,” Napier said.

It is one of those things we have to be very vigilant and aware of, Napier said, as we figure out how we can be salt and light in this world, and how we can represent the love of Christ without compromising the truth of Christ.

“The purpose of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is to protect religious liberty for everyone of all different faiths and backgrounds. We were here today to help people, who are concerned about how their faith might be harmed, to act wisely, to help protect their faith in the future,” Blomberg said.

“There are two trends to be aware of. One is, the challenges are growing. There are a lot of people, who see religion as something that is negative, and something that needs to be pushed into the private sphere, restricted to people’s very private lives, not just their private businesses, but their private homes, for instance. But, two, religious liberty is winning over and over again,” Blomberg expressed.

"Courts are recognizing that the First Amendment, that protective laws like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, protect the reasonable right of people to live their faith in their lives, in their churches and in their workplaces,” he continued.

Attendees heard from the experts, who offered details on how to protect their businesses and ministries against some of today’s activist legal challenges.

With recent court cases involving Christian businesses declining services for same-sex weddings, Christian retailers may eventually face similar legal battles. The session aimed to help retailers understand their legal rights and responsibilities. It also shared on how to put guidelines in place that are legally defensible.

Attendees heard more about the value in Christians coming together to protect the fundamental human right to follow God. At the conclusion of the session, the leaders made a booklet available to attendees called “Protecting Your Business: A Legal Guide for the Christian Business Owner.”

The booklet covers topics like “Why Promote Marriage and Family.” It also addresses questions about sexual orientation, gender identity ordinances and religion in the work place.

Publishers will also find the booklet useful.

“I am looking forward to getting a copy of the booklet that Alliance Defending Freedom has put together. It will help us at Tyndale House Publishers make sure that our policies are as strong as they can be,” said President Mark Taylor, Tyndale House Publishers.

 “Everybody who is in the Christian publishing and retail industry needs to be very careful that we defend our freedom to express our faith in our business,” he said.

Taylor said the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage means that it’s going to be more of an issue in the future, even more than it has been in the past.

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