Christian baker appeals to Colorado's highest court

Two homosexuals complained to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission after Christian baker Jack Phillips declined to bake them a cake for their same-sex wedding. As expected, the commission ruled that Phillips discriminated against the men based on sexual orientation. The judge ordered the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner and his staff to undergo reeducation to correct outdated views about what people have understood marriage to mean for thousands of years and file compliance reports.

Phillips, a Christian, said he’d rather stop selling wedding cakes altogether than be forced to provide services. In August, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the commission’s ruling against Phillips. But he’s still fighting. On Friday, Phillips appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.

“The freedom to live and work consistently with one’s faith is at the heart of what it means to be an American,” said Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney with Phillips’ legal counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom. “Jack simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message with which he disagrees.”

Americans have always understood that religious freedom in the United States doesn’t end just outside the church or the home. A desire to worship openly and to live out that faith every day are two reasons why this country was founded. That kind of freedom protects Christians who refuse to celebrate or participate in what God calls an abomination. But serving homosexual customers isn’t enough for members of the gay lobby, who demand total compliance and suppressed dissent about their choices.

Why didn’t these homosexuals respect Phillip’s beliefs as they want their lifestyle choices to be respected? Why weren’t they concerned about offending him with such a request? Nobody worries about offending Christians, the left’s favorite target of mockery. It’s understandable, as Christians aren’t known to threaten violence against people who speak or act irreverently against our Savior. Those who rant against our faith typically don’t lose their heads. Christ does not call us to kill those who hate us. We’re to pray for them. And the godless take advantage of that.

Christ said that believers—true Christians, not in-name-only Christians—are not of this world. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you,” He told His disciples. If they persecuted Him, they will persecute us. Of course, unbelievers don’t consider forcing Christians to comply with normalizing homosexuality persecution. But where will it end?

After Christ’s warning, He assured His disciples that aid was on the way: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

Despite whatever is coming for American Christians—cake today, prison tomorrow—Christ guides, encourages, and protects us. Our bodies might bear the burdens of our marginalization and repression, but our souls will remain forever untouched.