Post by Graveyardbride on Oct 7, 2017 1:46:56 GMT -5
Cakes for Satan
Shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court created “same-sex marriage,” LGBTQ activists were threatening Christians for their beliefs in a lawsuit in Washington state. The activists demanded the release of the names of voters who had signed a petition to put a traditional-marriage initiative on the state election ballot so they could confront the citizens with “uncomfortable conversations.”
Later, and especially after the Supreme Court ruling, LGBTQ activists targeted Christian business owners with demands for goods or services promoting homosexuality – not because those goods or services couldn’t be obtained elsewhere, but because they wanted to establish a legal precedent by compelling Christians to violate their faith.
A coming Supreme Court ruling will shed light on how far that agenda can be pushed. Colorado baker Jack Phillips is challenging orders from a biased state commission that he undergo a program of LGBT indoctrination because he refused to promote a “gay” wedding.
“Outlasting the Gay Revolution” spells out eight principles to help Americans who hold conservative moral values counter attacks on freedoms of religion, speech and conscience by homosexual activists
But now another group that routinely opposes Christianity is offering what its promoters hope is a sure-fire way to force Christian business operators to violate their faith: Demand that a baker produce a pro-Satanic cake. After all, while gender orientation and the like are not protected classes in the United States, religion is protected.
The idea comes from Lucien Greaves, co-founder of the Satanic Temple, a political activist group and pseudo-religious organization now based in Salem, Massachusetts, that has several chapters throughout the country. Greaves released a statement explaining his objective: “Our organization has received a lot of concerned messages from people who are upset by the prospect of an environment in which the LGBTQ community are openly and legally treated as second-class citizens. The laws of the United States require that no one may discriminate by way of refusal of service against an evangelical theocrat for their religious beliefs, but the evangelical theocrat may discriminate against LGBTQ people because of who they are.”
According to Greaves, because religion “is a protected class, a baker may refuse service to LGBTQ people, but they may not refuse service based upon someone’s religion. If they aren’t willing to make a cake for same-sex unions, let’s have them make a cake to honor Satan instead.”
The Phillips case, which has generated a tidal wave of support for the Colorado baker, focuses on the conflict between the religious rights protected in the U.S. Constitution and the recently created “right” to same-sex marriage. LGBTQ activists contend there is no exemption for Christians who follow Biblical standards for marriage.
Christians believe the standard for marriage was established by God, through the Bible, and no earthly court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, can change it. This position was stated emphatically by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, author of the New York Times bestseller The Harbinger and the inspiration behind the Isaiah 9:10 Judgment movie. His most recent book, The Paradigm, will be No. 5 on the New York Times list during its first week. He was addressing the Washington: A Man of Prayer event in the U.S. Capitol in 2015, just before the Supreme Court released its marriage opinion, which four justices criticized as unconnected to the Constitution. “The justices of the Supreme Court took up their seats [in a hearing] on whether they should strike down the Biblical and historic definition of marriage. That the event should even take place is a sign this is (the) America of (George) Washington’s warning … a nation at war against its own foundation,” he said. “If this court should overrule the word of God and strike down the eternal rules of order and right that heaven itself ordained, how then will God save it? Justices, can you judge the ways of God? There is another court and there another judge, where all men and all judges will give account, Cahn continued. “If a nation’s high court should pass judgment on the Almighty, should you then be surprised God will pass judgment on the court and that nation? We are doing that which Israel did on the altars of Baal.’
The Satanic Temple described how Phillips “refused” to make a cake: “The argument has been contextualized as a matter of Free Speech versus Civil Rights. However, because sexual orientation is not a protected class under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (whereas race and religion are), there is a good chance that the right to discriminate against gay couples will be affirmed as a constitutional liberty. Given the political persuasion of the majority of Supreme Court Justices, this outcome is even more likely. For this reason, The Satanic Temple (TST) has announced a plan for those who feel alienated or oppressed by the privileged status that religion holds over sexual orientation: Request your homophobic baker make a cake for Satan.”
Greaves asked people who are refused a cake for a homosexual wedding to contact him. “If you can’t get a cake for your same-sex union,” he told the LGBTQ community, “we’ll host a party in your honor at The Satanic Temple headquarters in Salem and order a cake that praises Satan from your offending discriminatory ‘religious liberty’ enthusiast.”
The list of Phillips’ defenders reads like a who’s who of America’s leaders. First, the Department of Justice has come down on Phillips’ side. Then there are the briefs from 20 different states, 86 members of Congress, 479 creative professionals, 34 legal scholars, 33 family policy organizations, 22 Utah Republican state senators and 14 legal and economic scholars.
In addition, he is supported by the Becket Fund, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Focus on the Family, Samaritan’s Purse, the Navigators, Tyndale House, Cato Institute, Christian Law Association, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Rabbinical Council of America, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Concerned Women for America, numerous Christian colleges, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, First Amendment Lawyers Association, Foundation for Moral Law, Aaron and Melissa Klein, Family Research Council, U.S. Justice Foundation, Thomas More Society and numerous Catholic groups, led by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. They believe Phillips has the right under the U.S. Constitution to decline to support something that conflicts with his religious beliefs.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is arguing on Philips’ behalf before the U.S. Supreme Court, cited 45 friend-of-the-court briefs that have been submitted to the high court in support of the Colorado cake artist. Just days earlier, ADF filed its opening brief in the case.
According to ADF, Colorado is “consistently opposing” anyone who objects to publicly supporting same-sex “marriage.” Phillips was ordered by the state’s Civil Rights Commission to provide his customized wedding cakes to same-sex duos if he provided them to anyone. He also was forced to undergo state-mandated, homosexual-rights thought training, along with his staff.
A member of the state’s Civil Rights Commission, Diann Rice, publicly exhibited bias against Phillips during a hearing, comparing him to a Nazi: “I would also like to reiterate what we said in the hearing or the last meeting,” Rice said during consideration of Phillips’ case. “Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust, whether it be – I mean, we – we can list hundreds of situations where freedom of religion has been used to justify discrimination. And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use to – to use their religion to hurt others.”
Hear a recording of Rice’s statement: ADF concluded such “animus” in a state is “alarming” and “has no place in civil society.” The organization said Rice’s comment “suggests that other members of the commission may share her view that people who believe marriage is only between a man and a woman are comparable to those who committed the Holocaust. This anti-religious bias undermines the integrity of the commission.”
The lawyers explained that Phillips’ right to decline to promote homosexuality is protected by the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses: “At issue here is whether Phillips may decline requests for wedding cakes that celebrate marriages in conflict with his religious beliefs. The First Amendment guarantees him that freedom because his wedding cakes, each one custom-made, are his artistic expression. Much like an artist sketching on canvas or a sculptor using clay, Phillips meticulously crafts each wedding cake through hours of sketching, sculpting, and hand-painting. The cake, which serves as the iconic centerpiece of the marriage celebration, announces through Phillips’s voice that a marriage has occurred and should be celebrated. The government can no more force Phillips to speak those messages with his lips than to express them through his art.”
Source: Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily, September 28, 2017.
