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Gov to Ministers: Marry Gays or Go to Jail
FrontPage Mag ^ | 10/20/2014 | Daniel Greenfield

Posted on 10/20/2014 8:03:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

…and the distinction between gay rights and religious persecution just vanished. It begins with equality and ends with everyone losing their freedom.

But I love all these new freedoms we’re getting. We now have the freedom to do what various pressure groups want or go to jail. I hope we don’t get too many more new freedoms or we’ll run out of jail cells.

Officials in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, are threatening an elderly couple who run a wedding chapel with jail time unless they perform wedding ceremonies for gay couples.

Donald Knapp and his wife, Evelyn, both ordained ministers who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel, have declined to host gay weddings based on their religious beliefs. The city is basing its claims on their “non-discrimination” statute now that the courts have cleared the way for same sex marriages in the state.

If a wedding chapel and its minister are a “public accommodation”, then the First Amendment just went up in smoke, which it was always bound to. Too many “conservatives” have the fanciful notion that the left can be compromised or that it will stop at some apparent to them “reasonable point”.

History shows that the left does not stop. It keeps going. It takes everything you have and then it puts you up against a wall.

“By declining to perform same-sex ceremonies and face up to 180 days in jail and up to $1,000 in fines. Worse, each day the Knapps decline to perform a requested same-sex wedding ceremony, they commit a separate and distinct misdemeanor, subject to the same penalties. Thus, if the Knapps decline a same-sex wedding ceremony for just one week, they risk going to jail for over 3 years and being fined $7,000. For the past several months, the City has privately and publicly threatened to apply Ordinance §9.56 to the Knapps if same-sex marriage became legal in Idaho and the Knapps declined to perform a same-sex wedding ceremony at The Hitching Post Wedding Chapel.”

The left will now pretend to distinguish so-called for-profit wedding chapels, but again it’s a meaningless distinction. It’s more onion-slicing. The endgame will hit every chapel and every church and synagogue and house of worship.

Because the left does not stop.

These are the same people who illegally leaked donor lists and got a man fired from his job because he donated to a group opposed to gay marriage. We’re not dealing with people who want equality. We are dealing with fascists. They will never stop on their own.

 


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Idaho
KEYWORDS: coeurdalene; firstamendment; gaymarriage; homosexualagenda; idaho; ssm; ssmministers
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To: Hattie

They can drop the non-denominational advertising and become a christian only wedding chapel. So far, the new world order has not demanded that christian churches marry gays and moslems...


41 posted on 10/20/2014 9:46:33 AM PDT by x_plus_one
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To: MAexile
No, it was during Henry's reign where laws were passed which he essentially nullified English law. Mary reversed it and Elizabeth reinstated the bad laws.

One of the laws Henry got passed was that someone who was charged with treason was not allowed to retain a lawyer, which went COMPLETELY against English law. Mary was appalled and worked within her five year reign to reverse those kind of laws. Elizabeth, in her 45 year reign reintroduced all the bad laws her father had gotten passed, and increased the amount of bad laws, including many that were directed at religion. Her laws were so bad that people had to hide in order to perform a baptism. If a person was not of the accredited faith they could not be buried or have their marriage recorded. And this went for Catholics and Puritans alike, although the bulk of the bad laws were directed to the Catholics.

It is a common mistake to think that Mary I caused it all, but it is just not true.

Elizabeth had her very own assistant named Richard Topcliffe. He reported only to her. His job was as chief priest-catcher. He had a torture dungeon in his own home and would send reports of how his tortures were going and the only time she reprimanded him was when he raped a servant girl in order to force her to give him information and she got pregnant. That was the only time Elizabeth found his work "distasteful."

Most people have no idea how bad it was when Elizabeth was queen. Think Barack Obama if he had both Houses of Congress and at least 95% of the justices on the Supreme Court and Homeland Security watched your every move.

For a total of 45 years.

42 posted on 10/20/2014 9:49:51 AM PDT by Slyfox (Satan's goal is to rub out the image of God he sees in the face of every human.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Amazing that this could happen anywhere in America , but Coeur d Alene would have been just about the last place we’d have guessed it would start.


43 posted on 10/20/2014 10:02:59 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ((Brilliant, Profound Tag Line Goes Here, just as soon as I can think of one..) u)
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To: BeadCounter

Wonder if they claim Tax exempt status? That is nothing but signing a contract with the devil. All so-called churches under that contract are legally bound to perform these ‘weddings.’ Time to pay the piper.


44 posted on 10/20/2014 10:12:23 AM PDT by Tomato lover ( Jesus is Lord of all)
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To: Tomato lover

All kinds of leftwing orgs are tax-exempt and I bet they aren’t legally bound to do anything


45 posted on 10/20/2014 10:14:37 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: SeekAndFind

The simplest solution is to move the chapel 50 feet outside the city limits...


46 posted on 10/20/2014 11:15:13 AM PDT by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: SeekAndFind

They look to be near retirement. I hope the Hitching Post is an LLC.


47 posted on 10/20/2014 5:43:52 PM PDT by zipper (In Their Heart Of Hearts, Every Democrat Is A Communist.)
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