Posted on 10/18/2014 4:09:39 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
Two Christian ministers who own an Idaho wedding chapel were told they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to $1,000 in daily fines, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Donald and Evelyn Knapp, two ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel in Coeur d’Alene.
“Right now they are at risk of being prosecuted,” attorney Jeremy Tedesco told me. “The threat of enforcement is more than just credible.”
The wedding chapel is registered as a “religious corporation” limited to performing “one-man-one-woman marriages as defined by the Holy Bible.”
However, the chapel is also a for-profit business and city officials said that means the owners must comply with the local nondiscrimination ordinance.
That ordinance, passed in 2013, prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and it applies to housing, employment and public accommodation.
City Attorney Warren Wilson told The Spokesman-Review in May that the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel likely would be required to follow the ordinance.
“I would think that the Hitching Post would probably be considered a place of public accommodation that would be subject to the ordinance,” he said.
He also told television station KXLY that any wedding chapel that turns away a gay couple would in theory be a violation of the law “and you’re looking at a potential misdemeanor citation.”
Wilson confirmed to Knapp in a telephone conversation that even ordained ministers would be required to perform same-sex weddings, the lawsuit alleges.
(Excerpt) Read more at radio.foxnews.com ...
My Dad was a JP when the civil union law came into effect. The ministers were not required to perform them, but the JPs were. No one ever asked him, but he swore that he’d refuse them and turn in his JP status.
Good for him.
The only reason this stuff isn’t stopped is because people won’t stand up and be counted.
they won’t if a christian demands that a muslim perform a christian wedding.
That’s the spirit :>}
Reincorporate as a 5o1c
When the USSC rules the First Amendment trumps the Civil Rights Act of 1964...and its the result of a suit brought by same-sex activists.
So Lois Lerner can decide whether or not you’re worthy? :-(
As well they should.
why of course I would happy to officiate at your wedding, Fred and Charles and I’ll set up a date at my next opening, that would be January 17, 2065.
Indeed.
Or when hell freezes over, whichever comes first.
Sounds like the government is trying to tell people what their religious values shall be...establishment of the Liberal Religion.
It is.
They could have a lot of fun writing the vows for this imitation marriage, writing a sermon for the start of the “ceremony” on God’s word as it applies to their revolting actions, and messing with the whole farce, but they should not be forced to go to those extremes. It is their property and their faith, and government has no authority to issue orders in violation of the free exercise of religion. I hope the judge who put the demands of the whining class ahead of the First Amendment and the evil thugs who demand involuntary servitude will be shunned by all decent people - forever.
I agree with you. Pastors are asked; they’re not required. I know my pastor wouldn’t perform a marriage for a divorced person, and I never asked him to either. I support him for standing on Biblical principle.
According to Ted Olson on Fox News Sunday, they do.
And we must refuse to swear on the Bible in a courtroom if they insist on mocking its Holy Word.
Well, that’s good, but the whole country is embracing homosexuality in all forms and shapes. Even those conservatives who oppose “gays” still vote “gay”-friendly politicians as often as not.
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