Republican Congressional candidate Alan Sanborn of Macomb
County said this weekend that he believes the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of
same-sex marriages is the first step in a “well-orchestrated plan” to force
ministers to perform gay marriage ceremonies in their churches.

Appearing on WDIV-TV’s “Flashpoint,” Sanborn, a former
state senator, said he suspects that the IRS will initiate the next step by removing
the tax-exempt status for churches that refuse to marry gay couples. At that
point, clerics would be forced to choose between financial difficulties for
their church or setting aside their religious objections to gay marriage.

Sanborn, who is running for the 10th Congressional
District seat being vacated in 2016 by Rep. Candice Miller, did not specify who
he believes is behind the plan. It appeared that he was referring to the Obama
administration working at the behest of the LGBT community.  

Legal experts have said that the historic Supreme Court
decision does not impose any mandates on churches. But under Sanborn’s theory, the IRS’
control over tax exemptions could be used to “pick winners and losers” among
U.S. churches, creating a division between those preachers willing to marry gay
couples and those who refuse. At that point, the Richmond Township Republican
said, the feds would have essentially created a form of “state-sponsored
religion.”

According to the former lawmaker, ministers he has spoken
to are afraid that, in addition to losing their tax-free privileges, they could
face lawsuits or “even be charged with a hate crime” if they don’t follow the
Supreme Court’s lead.