Up from my crypt and getting ready for the New Year (here's hoping that 2015 is a good one for this bloated cadaver!) when I notice an odd little article on a site I frequent just to motivate me more to horror stories.
Last year, a bakery in Oregon made the choice to violate the Civil Liberties laws of the state and deny service to a lesbian couple getting married. In essence, they wouldn't bake a cake for a wedding they knew was for a gay couple. Now nothing on the cake was out of place or proclaiming a political message; it was just a simple cake. But when the bakers found out the wedding was between two women, they claimed their religious beliefs prevented them from fulfilling the order.
Now, color me confused for a moment, but I know we aren't allowed to deny business based on sexual orientation (at least in Oregon where this happened). So, sure enough, they got sued and have subsequently lost their case. They are being closed down and owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. But they claim they would never change and that this is a sign that Christians are being persecuted.
Fast forward to 12/23/2014, nearly a year later. A writer at Charisma magazine phones up thirteen bakeries and asks for cakes that have written in icing "Gay marriage is wrong." And of course, Christians being the silly folk that they are, they cry foul when they are denied at every bakery.
They claim that their religious beliefs are being violated because that phrase is not being put on cakes for them when the other bakery was punished for not baking a cake. The difference is one has a direct written message on it proclaiming a political message. Now, that is not protected under the civil liberties act. They can deny the KKK from having a "All Black people must be deported" or a "Women cannot vote" message on a cake and still be fine as they haven't denied based on religious grounds, but political ones.
To be clear, the Charisma magazine writer was not denied because they were Christian; they were denied because the baker did not want to be associated with that kind of message. The lesbian couple had no such messages on their cake, and the listed reason for denial was religious belief. That is what makes all of this legitimate, and not a case of Christian persecution.
Now I'm going to compile a few new stories together and see what stories I can begin to finish for you all. If you have a story you like, leave a comment in the section below to ask for it by name and I'll work on it.
Sweet Dreams
Last year, a bakery in Oregon made the choice to violate the Civil Liberties laws of the state and deny service to a lesbian couple getting married. In essence, they wouldn't bake a cake for a wedding they knew was for a gay couple. Now nothing on the cake was out of place or proclaiming a political message; it was just a simple cake. But when the bakers found out the wedding was between two women, they claimed their religious beliefs prevented them from fulfilling the order.
Now, color me confused for a moment, but I know we aren't allowed to deny business based on sexual orientation (at least in Oregon where this happened). So, sure enough, they got sued and have subsequently lost their case. They are being closed down and owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. But they claim they would never change and that this is a sign that Christians are being persecuted.
Fast forward to 12/23/2014, nearly a year later. A writer at Charisma magazine phones up thirteen bakeries and asks for cakes that have written in icing "Gay marriage is wrong." And of course, Christians being the silly folk that they are, they cry foul when they are denied at every bakery.
They claim that their religious beliefs are being violated because that phrase is not being put on cakes for them when the other bakery was punished for not baking a cake. The difference is one has a direct written message on it proclaiming a political message. Now, that is not protected under the civil liberties act. They can deny the KKK from having a "All Black people must be deported" or a "Women cannot vote" message on a cake and still be fine as they haven't denied based on religious grounds, but political ones.
To be clear, the Charisma magazine writer was not denied because they were Christian; they were denied because the baker did not want to be associated with that kind of message. The lesbian couple had no such messages on their cake, and the listed reason for denial was religious belief. That is what makes all of this legitimate, and not a case of Christian persecution.
Now I'm going to compile a few new stories together and see what stories I can begin to finish for you all. If you have a story you like, leave a comment in the section below to ask for it by name and I'll work on it.
Sweet Dreams
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