Supreme Court Guidelines - Are Your Beliefs Preferences or Convictions?

In both the United States and the world, certain events are bringing Christians and Christianity more intensely under the magnifying glass of official government scrutiny. As this scrutiny intensifies, we may have our convictions severely tested, as others have, in certain areas of religious belief.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a person’s religious convictions are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, but one’s religious preferences are not. Fortunately, the Supreme Court did not leave the courts without guidelines to determine whether a person has a religious preference or conviction. In a 1972 decision, the Court established the guidelines to determine a person’s convictions. Before giving those guidelines, the Court laid down two principles regarding persons who claim to hold religious beliefs.

First, the Court stated that “one cannot hold a belief unless one can somehow describe that belief.” Though the Court does not ask for eloquent testimony, it will not accept hunches, feelings or “it-seems-to-me” testimony either. The Court wants a witness to show thoughtful consideration of his beliefs.

Secondly, but more important, the Court requires that one’s beliefs must be individually and personally held. In John 8:32-44 Jesus confronted opponents who clearly had not internalized the beliefs they claimed to hold. “They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham’”.

The Court views such people as hiding behind a title. Christ’s opponents said, “I am a son of Abraham.” Today, one would say, I am a Christian.” The Court would reply, “Fine, now tell us what that means to you.”

From these two general guidelines, the Court then established that no matter who we are or what our religious affiliation, beliefs fall into one of two categories. Beliefs are either Convictions or preferences. These terms must be defined further because in U.S. courts only convictions are protected by the Constitution. It may be surprising how the Supreme Court defines a preference.

A preference is a very strong belief. A belief can hold one with very great intensity and strength. How strong? Strong enough that one will go into full-time service of that belief. For example, one can be a minister of the gospel, a missionary or Bible study teacher in a religious school and still be operating on a preference, not a conviction.

According to the Supreme Court, a preference can be held so strongly that one will give all of his wealth to support it. A preference can be so intense a person will energetically proselytize others by going house-to-house, handing out tracts on street corners or broadcasting on radio or television – and he will still be operating only on a preference.

According to the Supreme Court, a preference is a belief that one will change under certain circumstances. Through long experience judging cases, the Court has learned that certain pressures, if brought to bear, will motivate people to change their beliefs. How would you respond to the following pressure?

1. Peer Pressure
Teens tend to be idealistic. But there are a few who resolve to be serious, “hit the books” and avoid the drugs, sex, smoking, drinking and “hanging out” that they have seen others doing. But if the “right” boy or girl appears, or if the teen is recognized by the “right” clique, his desire to be accepted by them pressures him to adjust his ideals to conform to theirs. His ideals or convictions are merely preferences.

A minister may search the Bible for truth and find something interesting that he believes and resolves to do and teach. When he tells his fellow ministers about what he has found, they may say to him, “I don’t say you’re wrong in this, but don’t you think you should tone it down a bit? Make it less offensive,, and then maybe we can cooperate with you and work on some of your objectives.” At first, he may strongly defend his belief, but little by little, as he sees the reaction of his peers, he may begin to bend. He started believing it and resolving to do it, but if he changes, his belief is a preference.

2. Family Pressure
This is perhaps the strongest pressure. When Jesus advises His disciples about counting the cost of commitment to Him, every person He mentions is a family member. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate [or love less] his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26).

Usually no one can motivate you like a deeply loved mate. A husband may resolve to commit himself to a strong belief, but on telling his wife, she replies, “Please don’t; do you realize what this will do to us and our family?” His resolve begins to melt because he knows he will feel responsible if, because of his belief, he inflicts discomfort or pain on a loved one. His belief is only a preference.

3. Fear of Lawsuit or Financial Ruin
We are all aware of the expense and hassle of going to court. We may say, “I’m all for this, but I’m not going to get sued over it! You can’t ask me to be sued – that’s going too far! I may lose my hard-earned reputation, maybe my job and all my property because of attorney and court costs.” If this daunting pressure causes many to change their beliefs, they are not convictions.

4. Jail
You may have never really been in a jail, but they are not pleasant places. Most prisoners want to get out as quickly as they can. You are isolated from your dearest family members and friends. Additionally, the people around you (your fellow inmates) have made a living of not playing by the rules. Some are quite violent.

Would you really be willing to go to jail for your faith? Even when no one seems to understand why you would do such a thing? Would the pressure of facing jail make you change your beliefs? If so, your beliefs are preferences.

5. The Pressure of Death
This final test is obvious: to be a conviction, one must be willing to die for his belief. Even strongly held preferences have failed as convictions under the trying circumstances of facing death.

Do you see the common factor in these? What does your belief mean to YOU? What are you willing to sacrifice in exercising your belief? If you feel you should do something but have the right not to do it, it is merely a preference, according to the Supreme Court’s test. Therefore, your belief is not protected by the Constitution.

So what creates a conviction? The Court’s answer: A MAN MUST BELIEVE THAT HIS GOD REQUIRES IT OF HIM.

A belief that is God-ordered is a conviction. It is not merely a matter of resolve or dedication, but a matter of believing with all our heart that God requires it of us. The Court says that if we hold our beliefs as God-ordered, we will withstand all the above tests.

The Court says more: a conviction is not something we discover but something we purpose. It is not something we just happen to run across but something that is part of the very fiber of our personality. The Court says our convictions will be purposed as part of our way of life, beliefs that we are determined to perform and fulfill.

All these tests are guidelines for judges and lawyers to pursue in a court of law. But everyone knows that on the witness stand, after swearing or affirming to tell the truth, not everybody is honest, and that one, though not lying outright, may bend the truth.

So the Supreme Court was left with solving the dilemma of discovering how it could determine whether a person was telling the truth about his convictions. The answer was actually very simple. Though a person may be an artful liar on the witness stand, the truth can always be found in his LIFESTYLE.

The Court says, “You have no right to say you have a conviction unless we can somehow see you live that conviction with some consistency.” Testimony of beliefs without the works to prove them is invalid. This agrees with Scripture: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’” (James 2:18).

The Court says, “We want to see your faith in action.” A sharp attorney will ask pointed questions and our lifestyle could condemn us unless it matches our beliefs. The Court will not demand that we be perfect, but that we consistently show by our lifestyle that we are living by what we believe.

Conviction does not come because we are suddenly struck with inspiration, but it is the product of a process that involves a growing relationship with God. Knowledge gained by research or argument is of no benefit in God’s sight unless one lives by it. God wants experiential knowledge – knowledge of Him gained as the result of knowing Him, obeying Him, living life with Him as the center of our life.

It is the same in the natural world. We may know someone through the reporting of certain things about him. But we do not really know a person until we live with him. When we do that, we are convicted of certain things about him.

Supreme Court guidelines are judgments of men – but in the case of preferential beliefs or convictional beliefs, it looks to me like they must have had their Bibles out in front of them.

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