Posted on 07/03/2015 7:28:21 PM PDT by xzins
An Oregon official certified a ruling Thursday imposing a $135,000 fine against Christian bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.
The official then ordered the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa not to speak publicly about their conscientous decision to follow their religious beliefs by not baking any cakes for same-sex weddings.
The company has gone out of business due to the legal battle.
An article by The Daily Signal, a publication of the Heritage Foundation, states that Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein to "cease and desist" from openly professing that they won't serve gay weddings because of their Christian beliefs.
Avakian cited an Oregon state law in his ruling:
"The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries hereby orders (the Kleins) to cease and desist from publishing, circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published … any communication to the effect that any of the accommodations … will be refused, withheld from or denied to, or that any discrimination be made against, any person on account of their sexual orientation."
On their Facebook page, the Kleins responded:
"This effectively strips us of all our First Amendment rights. According to the state of Oregon we neither have freedom of religion or freedom of speech."
The Kleins say they will appeal the ruling.
lol.....there were some zingers on there.
I know - I posted some of them. The ones that made sense and could not be refuted or where the liberal did not have the last word were deleted by Avakian or someone that works for him.
I've posted a few more. I have a feeling they will be gone by the end of the day, also.
I don’t have any problem with that. We are required, however, by FR policy to use actual titles.
There.
The 8th Amendment (usually referenced by attorney’s for DP convicts regarding cruel and unusual punishment) also refers to the Gov’t not being allowed to impose excessive fines.
I’d sue based on 8th amendment and infringing on 1st amendment rights.
“Excessive bail shall not be required, NOR EXCESSIVE FINES IMPOSED, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
I suspect the person who gets to decide whether the fine was excessive is the same administrative law judge who levied it in the first place.
It is certainly EXCESSIVE, and I think it's cruel and unusual. No way that denying a cake amounts to a $135,000 fine. It's also retributive, so that makes it qualify for ‘cruel and unusual’, doesn't it?
Hard to believe that since Jesus talked about it in the gospels.
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