Oregon Christian Bakers Lose Appeal

SALEM, Ore. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Despite their appeal, a Christian couple in Oregon is being ordered to pay $135,000 to a same-sex couple after refusing to bake a cake for their "marriage."

In January 2013, spouses Aaron and Melissa Klein declined to make a same-sex "wedding" cake for Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer. The lesbian couple retaliated by filing a discrimination complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

In 2015, a judge ruled in favor of the homosexual couple and ordered the Christians to pay $135,000 for emotional damage and mental distress.

On Thursday, a panel of judges on the Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the fine.

The Kleins have had to close their bakery, "Sweetcakes by Melissa" outside Portland, during this legal battle.

The Christian couple was represented in the Court of Appeals by attorneys from the First Liberty Institute (FLI).

First Liberty Institute President Kelly Shackelford said in a statement Thursday, "Freedom of expression for ourselves should require freedom of expression for others. Today, the Oregon Court of Appeals decided that Aaron and Melissa Klein are not entitled to the Constitution's promises of religious liberty and free speech."

Thanks for the reply and I think you ask a good question. In my opinion, which is not shared by many at FR, focusing on politics rather than the things that we as Christians are supposed to focus on has been a real disaster.

As for how this evil came about, well, I guess you could trace it to satan being cast out if you want to go back that far.

In our country I think a lot of this from a political perspective comes from the aftermath of the civil war when the idea of states rights and autonomy was essentially chucked out the window. It got immeasurably worse under Wilson and FDR, but I think the roots of it lie with the idea that one national government holding the vast majority of the power is better than 40 or 50 states holding most of the power and effectively competing with one another to be freer (or more horrible) as the case may be.

At this point I view it as mostly academic. We are where we are and I’m more concerned about how we get to a better end place. And again my opinion is not widely shared at FR, but I don’t see politics as offering much in the way of a solution. You don’t fix spiritual and cultural problems through elections.

In our country I think a lot of this from a political perspective comes from the aftermath of the civil war when the idea of states rights and autonomy was essentially chucked out the window.

Very much so, I believe.

It got immeasurably worse under Wilson and FDR, but I think the roots of it lie with the idea that one national government holding the vast majority of the power is better than 40 or 50 states holding most of the power and effectively competing with one another to be freer (or more horrible) as the case may be.

But you accurately peg this statism business as commencing with Lincoln. Yes, Wilson just expanded on it, as did FDR.

At this point I view it as mostly academic. We are where we are and I’m more concerned about how we get to a better end place.

Some years ago I read a wonderful essay that effectively argued that we don't get to a better end place. The premise of the essay was that things get modified until they break, and rather than being repaired, the solution is usually upheaval and revolution. The essay used the Roman Empire as an example.

Modifications to an existing system don't get removed because there is usually an intractable advocacy group for keeping whatever changes were made. A very good example of this phenomena is pointed out in this wonderful article called "Pigeons rats and Democrats."

What I fear is that we will not be able to remove the bad modifications (changes) to our system, and it will eventually collapse.

And again my opinion is not widely shared at FR, but I don’t see politics as offering much in the way of a solution. You don’t fix spiritual and cultural problems through elections.

I believe the adage that "politics is downstream of culture" is apt. We won't fix anything until we can get at least equal voice with the people who are polluting the information streams with nonsense. Till conservatives have some degree of equal voice in the entertainment/news industries as well as academia, nothing is going to get fixed.

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