Americans United for Separation of Church and State welcomes today’s Supreme Court ruling extending marriage equality nationwide but cautions that it will spark a sharp backlash from the Religious Right.

The high court ruled 5-4 that it is unconstitutional for states to prohibit same-sex couples from marrying. States will also be required to recognize all legal marriage licenses issued by other states, including those given to gay couples.

“Today love and the Constitution triumphed over bigotry and religious extremism,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “That’s a great step, but no one should expect the Religious Right and its political allies to give up. They are already working to throw up as many roadblocks as possible to prevent LGBT Americans from claiming their hard-won rights.”

Lynn said the focus will now shift to proposals to give for-profit business and even government employees a “religious freedom” right to refuse services to same-sex couples. Measures like this have already passed in some states and are pending in others.

Some Religious Right groups, Lynn noted, have vowed to defy the ruling.

“The high court did the right thing, but that doesn’t mean we’ve heard the last word on this issue,” Lynn said. “In fact, this ruling will create a new front in the ‘culture war’ as aggressive Religious Right groups seek new ways to stop the spread of equality.”

Lynn noted that nothing in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision affects the rights of houses of worship. The separation of church and state means that churches can’t be forced to provide weddings for same-sex couples.

But those rules don’t apply to for-profit companies and government entities, and it’s likely that a host of bills will be introduced in the states that seek to give people the right to refuse to serve same-sex couples. Those laws will in turn be challenged in court.

Americans United, Lynn said, will oppose any effort to use the principle of religious freedom as a tool to deny the rights of others.

“Religious freedom is a noble principle, and we will oppose any and all efforts to turn it into a vehicle for crude forms of discrimination,” Lynn vowed.