CBNNews.com- Do Americans have the right to exercise their moral judgment and their religious discernment when hiring?

Not if the

Employment Non-Discrimination Actbecomes law, which would make it illegal for businesses to refuse employment to people because of their homosexual, bisexual or transsexual lifestyles. The bill would also affect pay and promotion practices by those who employ homosexuals.

President Bush threatened to veto the measure if it makes it to his desk; however, it is disturbing to many pro-family supporters that the White House said it will not commit to vetoing the measure until it examines the verbiage more closely.

White House advisers stated that the negative toll it could take on some religious schools is the main motivation for the proposed blockage of the bill.

Many believe that the religious exemptions ENDA provides are insignificant in light of the religious freedoms that would be stripped in the bill, also known as H.R. 3685.

"ENDA would punish Christians and religious traditionalists by leading directly to the loss of freedom for tradition-minded business owners with 15 or more employees," said Peter LaBarbera of

Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. "Take the example of an Orthodox Jewish owner for a for-profit day-care business who would never hire an avowed homosexual, lesbian or bisexual as a supervising adult care-giver because he believes Scriptural teachings that homosexual practice is immoral and reflects poorly on one's character. This religious man would qualify for the exemption of ENDA if he has 14 or less workers. But God forbid that his business grows to 15 or more employees, because then, under ENDA, he could no longer apply his religious and moral beliefs about same-sex sin in his hiring and firing decisions."

This brings to question whose rights are more esteemed by the government.

"It must be remembered that top homosexual strategists now assert that their 'moral' claim -- the right not to be treated differently based on their 'sexual orientation' trumps our religious/moral obligation to oppose homosexuality," LaBarbera concluded.

What consequences would Americans face with the passage of ENDA?

"H.R. 3685 would dramatically expand the power of the federal government and would put it behind one side of the homosexual debate: the politically correct and unbiblical claim that homosexuality is all about 'rights' and innocuous 'orientations.'" LaBarbera said. "ENDA is a 'gay' lawyer's dream: it would be abused by litigious homosexual activists, who seem to have a special gift for lying about conservatives and exaggerating their own victim status."

LaBarbera went on to explain that the traditional beliefs about homosexuality as a sin would be overridden by the government and that homosexual rights would be enforced over traditional American rights to operate businesses in compliance with moral beliefs.

Effects on Children

If passed, ENDA would also have consequences on children in the classroom.

"H.R. 3685 would be used to defend the placement of openly homosexual and bisexual teachers in our nation's public schools in all localities," said Labarbera "For the activist-minded homosexual teachers who are already in schools, H.R. 3685 could lead them to more boldly promote and discuss their lifestyle in the classroom, as schools could be sued for discrimination if they dared to discipline activist 'gays.'"

Earlier this month, California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger signed two anti-discrimination bills favoring homosexuality that affect the schools and hiring in the workplace.

Because of the radical nature of the pro-gay education bill, known as SB 777, pro-family groups in California have called parents to pull their children from the public schools.

"We're calling upon every California parent to pull their child out of California's public school system," said Randy Thomasson, the president of

Campaign for Children and Families. "There will be no exemptions to this indoctrination. Private schools and homeschool will be the only sanctuary left for parents in California who love their children and want to protect their sexual innocence."

The California bill will require teachers to portray alternative lifestyles in a favorable light whenever there is the mention of a traditional family in the curriculum.

"This really is a call to conservative and Christian pro-family groups to give up this absurd idea of public school reform," said Ray Moore, a spokesman for

Exodus Mandate, another pro-family Christian organization. "It can't be done. The longer they talk about saving public schools, the longer they prolong this agony, when they could be setting up new schools."