“Equality Act” Would Unleash Federal Persecution of Christians
From the print edition of The New American:
Even a generation ago, the story of Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, would have been unthinkable. After serving his community for more than two dec-ades, he suddenly found himself on the wrong side of the law. It wasn’t for health violations, stealing, tax evasion, embezzlement, or anything else you might expect, though. Rather, Phillips was guilty of nothing more than being a Christian in the public square who takes his faith seriously. And his life was turned upside down because of it.
In July 2012, two homosexual men came in to his family-owned cake shop in Lakewood demanding that he design a custom wedding cake to celebrate their homosexual “marriage.” Being a Christian, obviously he could not use his God-given artistic talents to celebrate something God describes in the Bible as an “abomination” — much less make a mockery of marriage, which to Christians is an earthly illustration of the relationship between Christ and His Church. So Phillips politely declined to bake the cake, offering to sell the homosexual couple cakes for other occasions or anything else they may want in his store.
The men could have simply taken their business elsewhere. But instead, they filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission alleging “discrimination” based on “sexual orientation.” And incredibly, the kangaroo “court” ordered Phillips to either bake cakes celebrating homosexual “marriage,” or quit designing any and all wedding cakes. He was also commanded to “reeducate” his employees so they would understand that he was wrong to be a Christian while operating his business. In other words, Phillips could violate his conscience and his faith — or lose his livelihood and allow his family to starve. This in a nation founded by Christians, for Christians, that offered unprecedented tolerance to those of other faiths and worldviews.
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