Posted on 07/29/2014 8:14:09 AM PDT by xzins
LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- Imagine being ordered to go against your religious beliefs, and if you refuse, you could be arrested, fined, or sued.
That happened to the Christian owner of a Colorado bakery who now must make wedding cakes for gay couples.
However, the owner is standing his ground and his action is inspiring people around the world.
Discriminating Accusation
The sign on the door reads "Celebrating 20 Years of Great Cakes!" For two decades, Masterpiece Cakeshop has created art in the form of baked goods that keeps customers coming back.
From cookies and cupcakes to signature cakes, Jack Phillips and his daughter Lisa have transformed their bakery into a studio. Phillips said it's all inspired and motivated by his faith in Jesus Christ.
"It's the most important thing that I think about throughout the day. When I wake up, when I go to work, I want to know that what I'm doing is pleasing to Him, that I honor Him and His Word because that's the most important thing," Phillips said.
But Phillips' Christian faith landed him in trouble with the law. His crime: adhering to his biblical belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.
In 2012, a homosexual couple sued the baker after he declined to make a cake to celebrate their marriage. An administrative law judge ruled against him, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission agreed.
The commission stated Phillips' refusal went against the state's public accommodation law. It requires businesses to serve customers regardless of their sexual orientation.
In a public statement, one member of the Civil Rights Commission said, "I can believe anything I want, but if I'm going to do business here, I'd ought to not discriminate against people."
"I didn't discriminate against anybody," Phillips countered. "Like Nicolle (his attorney) said, I've chosen not to make cakes for same-sex weddings. I told David and Charlie when they came in that I would sell them cookies and brownies and birthday cakes and shower cakes. I just don't do the same-sex wedding cake. So I did not discriminate against them, just that event I've chosen not to participate in."
His attorney Nicolle Martin said the Commission violated his First Amendment rights. She's taken the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Conform to Comply
The Civil Rights Commission's order requires Phillips and his staff to make cakes for same-sex celebrations if asked.
He must also re-educate his staff about Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act. Under that law, artists must endorse all views.
The order also requires him to put in place new policies to comply with the Commission's order.
In addition, he will submit quarterly "compliance" reports to the government for two years.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom, the reports must include the number of customers declined a wedding cake or any other product. They must also include why it was declined "so to ensure he has fully eliminated his religious beliefs from his business."
"The government has chosen which message it favors in this case; I think the state has made it very clear," Martin said.
"Jack's First Amendment rights, Jack's freedom to express himself or more importantly, not express himself, must bow to the complainants' message," she said. "And all I can say is what that looks like to me is something very frightening, and that's nothing more than diversity through conformity, and that's not diversity at all," she added.
First Amendment Disappearing?
Phillips' case is one of a handful in which complainants sued private businesses for refusing to accommodate gay couples getting married.
It also helped lead to controversial proposals in several states allowing businesses to decline service based on the religious beliefs of owners.
"This case is not about and it has never been about the young men that came in here almost two years ago asking Jack to design and create their cake," Martin said. "This case has always been about the message that that cake expresses, what that cake communicates."
"It's surprising," Phillips said. "This is not what they taught us in civics class... they could do this to you. They do this in other countries, not here."
"So Jack stands on the First Amendment. In this case, we're going to learn whether the First Amendment has a future in America," Martin said.
In a country founded on freedom of religion and speech, that's a future important to all Americans
I miss the rule of law.
We are closer to the time when the only way to return
to the rule of law is to be lawless.
Wow, the Thought Police are real.
Interesting.
No freedom of expression for artists either apparently.
Fk them.
This is untenable.
Re-education is an intramural activity.
That is: If, a condition of employment, a company requires this, fine.
But, a private business owner cannot be compelled to act against his religious beliefs, which are spelled out in a book that is some 3,400 years old.
Every time I read one of these cases I read that claim in comments but each one specifically says something like the following:
“”I didn't discriminate against anybody,” Phillips countered. “Like Nicolle (his attorney) said, I've chosen not to make cakes for same-sex weddings. I told David and Charlie when they came in that I would sell them cookies and brownies and birthday cakes and shower cakes. I just don't do the same-sex wedding cake.”
He clearly says he refused to bake them a wedding cake, it says nothing about him offering to bake them a wedding cake that that looks the same as would for normal couples, he says he offered them cookies instead of a wedding cake,.
I am still waiting for a case like that, matching the claims,
These sound like martyr cases. I want to see a real case,
Who are David and Charlie - the litigants? I’d like to know a little bit more about these guys. Who do they discriminate against? What are their last names? Two can play this nasty game.
I should hope so; however I am a bit discouraged on the issues of constitutionalism: when I bring the subject [usu. concerning firearms] up with the authorities I get the run-around, when I bring up the same contraconstitutional statutes to lawyers they say I cannot challenge such statutes w/o violating them (this means without implicitly acknowledging their authority, and forcing me to argue from the position of the accused: a position of weakness where arguments of validity will come off as whining you can't do that!
)
Simply put: the authorities have no interest in honoring the very constitutions by which they derive their authority.
What is the one thing he said that he does not do?
From the article, I assumed they were the guys who wanted a same sex wedding cake.
“Civil Rights Commission” have oddly enough always been very much Orwellian in name. Their propose is to levly war upon the natural rights of man kind.
If they want a report they can have a copy the bible. We have higher laws, and actual rights to be concerned with. Not the unlawful and abusive edicts of a group of tyrants that order us to defy God. NOBODY has ever had a right to anybody else’s Goods or services. The very nature of trade is that it is voluntary. Take out the voluntary and what you have is nothing short of thief and slavery.
By the way, and this is important, at the time the request was made, same-sex wedding was not legal in Colorado. So, the homosexual’s own government was allowed to deny them a service, but an independent baker wasn’t allowed to turn down participation. That part still strikes me as really odd.
The article cites no specific law that was broken but national review cites that they broke an anti-discrimination law for ‘refusing to bake them a wedding cake’.
I also noticed that a panel made this last ruling, not a judge, but that they upheld a previous judge's ruling.
The problem is that if a judge ruled that they have the right to refuse same sex couples the same services or products that opposite couples get, then that would apply to mixed race couples too, and there no chance they are going there.
I would bake them a cake the same as everyone else gets and refuse to put two same-sex sounding names on it in decoration.
Now that like the Little Sisters of the poor would be a promising case. Losing isn't everything I always say.
ABC news on 18 July: "Colorado's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Denver County clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while the state's ban against the unions remains in place. The two-page ruling noted that a judge who earlier this month ruled the ban was unconstitutional put his decision on hold until it was appealed, meaning the definition of marriage approved by Colorado voters in 2006, as between one man and one woman, remains active. "
It just blows my mind that you can be punished for not participating in something that the state doesn't allow.
From the standpoint of neighborliness, how do I see this?
I think they should just leave each other alone. This guy had religious beliefs, then leave him alone. Go to a different baker. For him, he has religious beliefs, but maybe he could say, "Well, Joe's bakery on Styx Street... they'll hook you up."
I'm a pastor. If gay marriage becomes legal in Ohio, and 2 gays come to me and say, "We want you to marry us. We like your wedding service.", then I would be forced to say. I'll pray for you, I'll read scripture with you, I'll visit you in the hospital, BUT, I can't do a gay wedding. It violates what I believe.
I am clearly a religious organization. The bakery wasn't.
Maybe he should become a non-profit religious, baked goods outreach, paying himself a salary and providing everything above the costs of maintaining the non-profit, to Christian outreach of some variety.
That way, no one can deny that his religion is central to what he's doing.
If a gay shop owner refuses to make wedding cakes for a Christian wedding, that is also discrimination. But a judge won’t rule against the shop owner in that case.
The state government I would argue is discriminating against the owner for allowing this to even go to court. You’re right. The queers have won, this may even be how Christians will be rounded up.....re-education camps today, concentration camps tomorrow. Wait until Christians start being forced to go to these camps, but stop coming back. It will be too late then. The federal government needs a reset, and the country needs to be cleansed.
I don’t want to live in America anymore. Our President is a disgusting (likely a fag) evil muslim sympathizer at BEST, much of his administration is also, the LIBERALS will make sure that all the military leadership within 10 years will be FAGGOTS/QUEERS/MUSLIM SYMPATHIZERS. Christians are being FORCED to sell to FAGGOTS.
This country is done, over with. There is no coming back from this, it’s apparent that America is no longer needed in this world. America gone today, Armageddon tomorrow. Or perhaps our country is just at the end of it’s life, maybe Russia, or China will pick up the torch. I’m sure Putin would love to.
It started much like this in Nazi Germany, media/government telling people that the JEWS are evil, allowing people to discriminate, then they took the guns and then they killed 6 million people. There are differences of course. But it is apparent to me that Obama, and most of his administration and appointee’s hate Christians and hate Israel. Why don’t they hate Catholic’s, or Muslims and Buddhists too? Obama was sent straight from hell to hurt Jews and Christians. Might even be an/the antichrist.
Not quite that cut and dried. This is an order not a ruling.
But it looks like for the time being that they cant get married.
Maybe they (the Bakers) will appeal on that. Its a shot.
What sucks is that a lib Federal judge made up this right for homo-marriage out of thin air in CO. The SCOTUS sent them a signal that they have free-reign.
God help them.
And for those who prefer to send a check rather than donate online, the bakery’s address is on the website!
Or send a check to Alliance Defending Freedom (they’re covering his legal costs) specifying Masterpiece Cakeshop as purpose for donation.
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