Posted on 02/22/2015 7:42:27 PM PST by ReformationFan
If you haven’t been following Barronelle Stutzman’s case in Washington State, you need to be. She is the florist being sued by the state attorney general for refusing to participate in a gay wedding. The attorney general is trying to compel her to ignore her Christian faith and to participate in gay weddings. If she refuses, he is threatening the full coercive power of the state to force her to do it. She stands to lose everything—her home, her savings, her business, her livelihood—if she does not comply. I have an article today at CNN.com explaining the situation. The conclusion reads like this:
Barronelle Stutzman’s case is nothing less than an egregious violation of our first freedom. It is Caesar saying, “Conscience be damned. Submit to the new sexual orthodoxy or risk losing everything.”
This is not tolerance. This is injustice that flies in the face of this nation’s laws and traditions. And if this kind of thing can be done to a 70-year-old grandmother running a small flower shop in rural Washington State, then it can be done to you. No one’s conscience is safe if this precedent becomes the norm.
Late yesterday after news began to spread that a 70-year old grandmother was being threatened with financial ruin, the attorney general proposed a settlement that offers a small fine in exchange for Mrs. Stutzman’s agreeing to admit wrongdoing and to violate her conscience going forward.
Today, Mrs. Studzman has released a statement through her legal team that is as astonishing as it is courageous. Rather than accept the nominal fine and surrender her principles, she has decided to risk everything to stand for religious freedom. In her own words to the attorney general:
Thank you for reaching out and making an offer to settle your case against me.
As you may imagine, it has been mentally and emotionally exhausting to be at the center of this controversy for nearly two years. I never imagined that using my God-given talents and abilities, and doing what I love to do for over three decades, would become illegal. Our state would be a better place if we respected each other’s differences, and our leaders protected the freedom to have those differences. Since 2012, same-sex couples all over the state have been free to act on their beliefs about marriage, but because I follow the Bible’s teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, I am no longer free to act on my beliefs.
Your offer reveals that you don’t really understand me or what this conflict is all about. It’s about freedom, not money. I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my home, and everything else that your lawsuit threatens to take from my family, but my freedom to honor God in doing what I do best is more important. Washington’s constitution guarantees us “freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.” I cannot sell that precious freedom. You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.
I pray that you reconsider your position. I kindly served Rob for nearly a decade and would gladly continue to do so. I truly want the best for my friend. I’ve also employed and served many members of the LGBT community, and I will continue to do so regardless of what happens with this case. You chose to attack my faith and pursue this not simply as a matter of law, but to threaten my very means of working, eating, and having a home. If you are serious about clarifying the law, then I urge you to drop your claims against my home, business, and other assets and pursue the legal claims through the appeal process. Thanks again for writing and I hope you will consider my offer.
I am amazed that the attorney general is really going to press this. I am even more amazed at Mrs. Stutzman’s courage. The case will be on appeal very soon, and we will be following very closely. In the meantime, pray for Barronelle. She has chosen the difficult path, and she really is risking everything to follow her Christian conscience.
What a courageous patriot! All some of us can offer to help are our prayers and she has mine.
My, how this country has fallen.
Well said, Mrs Stutzman!
My prayers are with you!
Yes! Praise Christ. This woman will prevail. Either way, they will not get what they want, most of all obeisance, subservience.
The queers should just accept that she doesn’t want to do business with them. Do they think they are special? I don’t care to celebrate perversity either.
Ah, liberals so much for consciencious objection during Vietnam but now, when it comes to getting a biscuit from government if gay, not a peep about this blackmail.
she is not even enlisted in a military but treated worse.
I must respectfully disagree with that. Muslim consciences will still be safe. This poor woman is being persecuted because she is a Christian. If she were a Muslim this would not be happening.
Those that doubt that need only look into the Cleveland taxi incident of 2014. Cleveland was hosting some sort of gay event. Some Muslim taxi drivers refused to carry ads for that event. What happened to those drivers? Nothing!
Bttt
lemme get this straight:
Grandmothers, bakers, and nuns are being sued by state and federal govts over flowers, cakes and condoms, resp.- hmmmm
Only the Devil incarnate himself would do this.
I have a hard time believing that a jury would convict her.
Wow - people cross our southern border and get away scott free, but defy the agenda of the powers that be and you’re dead.
I wondered the exact same thing. I can't believe that 12 people - anywhere - would vote to convict her. Even in the most liberal of cities, there would have to be at least one juror who would say "Oh, hell no."
But maybe in today's fascist America "fines" don't have to go before a jury. Just pay up and shut up...or else you are ruined.
“I must respectfully disagree with that. Muslim consciences will still be safe. This poor woman is being persecuted because she is a Christian. If she were a Muslim this would not be happening.”
Y’know, that is a very interesting point. Nearly every “gay challenge” I’ve read about has been focused on businesses where the owner has a Christian religious objection. I’ve seen very few (actually one, IIRC), where a Muslim faith was involved. If there are more occurring, I have not seen them going front-and-center in the MSM.
whats her crime exactly? Could someone clarify?
She refused to participate in a gay marriage but is fine selling flowers to anyone even gay ppl
We have no more freedom of religion. Somehow she thought the Constitution guaranteed her that.
yea but what exactly is AG charging her with exactly? If its religion then why isn’t AG going after every Christian, why her exactly
Amen! This lady needs our prayers. I admire her.
The subject of gay marriage came up at the Ligonier Conference last Friday. R.C. Sproul said unequivocally that if government mandates Christian pastors must officiate homosexual marriages he will not comply, even at the risk of prison.
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