A cake baker who stands by his beliefs

Colorado baker Jack Phillips has been the target of a 12-year campaign of persecution because of his Christian faith. In 2012, two men ordered a cake designed to celebrate their same-sex “wedding.” Phillips declined the order because his Christian faith prevents him from creating a message that defies the Bible’s teaching about marriage.

Consequently, the couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, claiming that they were the targets of unlawful discrimination. After six years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court finally ruled in 2018 that the commission had expressed hostility toward Phillips’ faith, and the high court overruled the commission’s decision against Phillips.

On the very day that the Supreme Court decided to take up Phillips’ case in 2018, a transgender lawyer named Autumn Scardina ordered a cake from Phillips that would include a message celebrating a gender transition. Scardina also ordered a cake depicting Satan smoking marijuana. Phillips turned down both orders citing his religious beliefs.

Scardina filed a lawsuit against Phillips, and that case has been making its way through the courts for the last six years. On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed Scardina’s suit, which is both good news and bad news. The good news is that after 12 long years, Phillips no longer has this threat aimed squarely at him and his business. The bad news is that the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed the case on a technicality without ruling on its merits. This leaves the door open for the case to be refiled or for someone else to file a similar suit against Phillips.

Keep in mind that—despite what you may have read in media reports—Phillips has no problem serving customers who identify as part of the LGBTQ rainbow. This case has never been about invidious discrimination against homosexual and transgender people, as some have alleged. He happily bakes cakes for all comers. The legal attacks have always been about his refusal to create messages that go against his Christian faith. He cannot and will not celebrate what God says he must not celebrate. Phillips won’t create such messages no matter who requests them—gay, straight, trans, or otherwise.

Even though Phillips hasn’t engaged in wrongful discrimination, there is no question that his opponents in court have. They have persecuted Phillips for 12 years with a despicable form of lawfare designed to force him to violate his conscience and his Christian faith. They hate what Phillips stands for, and they have been relentless in their efforts to coerce him into betraying his beliefs. They don’t care that his faith forbids the celebration of sexual immorality and gender confusion. Their message has been, “Bake the cake, bigot, or we’ll destroy your business and livelihood.”

In an essay published the same year Phillips’ travails began, Robert P. George warned about the threat to religious liberty that was coming to Christians and other people of faith because of their beliefs about marriage, sexuality, and gender. His words were prophetic:

“There is, in my opinion, no chance—no chance—of persuading champions of sexual liberation … that they should respect, or permit the law to respect, the conscience rights of those with whom they disagree. Look at it from their point of view: Why should we permit ‘full equality’ to be trumped by bigotry? Why should we respect religions and religious institutions that are ‘incubators of homophobia’? Bigotry, religiously based or not, must be smashed and eradicated. The law should certainly not give it recognition or lend it any standing or dignity.”

George’s warning has come true in spades. Phillips is not the only Christian under fire for their beliefs about sexuality and gender. These conflicts are occurring throughout the country with no signs of abating. The opponents of religious liberty are not going to stop until they get Christians to throw a pinch of incense to their idol of sexual liberation.

God bless Jack Phillips for refusing to bow at their altar. God bless Alliance Defending Freedom, which has taken up this case and prevailed. God bless all of the others who have shown similar courage to resist this fundamental injustice. They have sacrificed much to fight the good fight for religious freedom. For Phillips, it has been 12 long years of legal persecution. Let’s pray that this will be the end of his part in this struggle. He’s done more than his part for the rest of us. And let’s pray that there will be others with the same courage and grit to continue the resistance.