Christians nationwide face controversy when they confront lies with truth and have faced retaliation, lawsuits, and even termination from their jobs for standing for such convictions. Some of these individuals are presented with a choice: give in to a lie or lose your livelihood. 

Take Luke Ash, the bivocational pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who understands the personal cost of standing for his convictions. Pastor Ash refused to wrongfully refer to a female trainee by her “preferred” male pronouns in his job at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library. 

Pastor Ash showed no animus or disrespect. He simply said, “I don’t do that” when another colleague confronted him about not using the female trainee’s preferred pronouns. When given the option to change his mind and use her preferred pronouns in compliance with the library’s so-called inclusivity policy, he refused. 

As a Christian, Pastor Ash could not lie to affirm a delusion that seeks to defy God’s design. As a result, he was unlawfully fired from his second job that allowed him to better support his family. 

If they come after people like Pastor Ash for standing for his convictions (and for biological facts as basic as male and female), they will come after you. This is why the fight for religious liberty matters.

This is why we are fighting for Kayleigh Bush, who could not continue as Miss North Florida after refusing to sign a newly minted Miss America contract with a false definition of “female.”

This is why we are fighting for Daniel Grossenbach, who was fired from his job as an adjunct ethics professor at the University of Arizona for speaking up for his children and parental rights at local school board meetings as schools in the district were pushing LGBTQ indoctrination on children without parental knowledge or consent. 

This is why we are fighting for a social worker in Clackamas County, Oregon, who is facing unlawful retaliation at work for refusing to call children by their preferred pronouns contrary to the way God made them. 

This is why we are fighting for Liberty University that is being sued for terminating an employee who violated the Christian university’s doctrinal statement by announcing his “transition” to female.

The list goes on, and this just scrapes the surface of Americans nationwide facing backlash for refusing to accept a lie. Truth matters. Males cannot be females. In each of these cases, Christians were penalized for rightfully standing for what they know is true and exercising their faith. For each of these individuals, standing for their beliefs was costly — but worth it. 

Thankfully, the rule of law is on our side. For Pastor Ash, the Louisiana Constitution, the Louisiana Protection of Religious Freedom Act, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protect his right to uphold his religious beliefs about human sexuality in the workplace.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library acted illegally in firing Pastor Ash and not even considering offering him a religious accommodation to avoid using false pronouns. Liberty Counsel is demanding the library reinstate Pastor Ash with back pay and revise its pronoun policy to respect the religious free exercise rights of all employees to avoid further legal action. 

The United States is a bastion for religious liberty and free speech with guardrails in place to ensure Christians can stand for truth in a culture that rejects it. Americans cannot be forced to choose between their faith and their livelihood.

Christianity is countercultural, standing for the truth is costly, and the truth is under attack. In an age of lies, be bold in your faith, abide by your convictions, and, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “live not by lies” — no matter the consequences. Truth is worth fighting for, and a Christian’s religious liberty to stand for truth is worth defending.

Mat Staver is founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.