Kelsey Harkness with the Daily Signal interviewed Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who was sued for declining to make a cake for a same-sex ceremony, who was compared to a Nazi by Colorado Civil Rights Commissioner Dianne Rice in 2014.
Phillips’ father fought in World War II and had the opportunity to see many of the atrocities of the Holocaust first hand. Phillips recounts for Harkness learning about the concentration camps from his father in the years before he passed away. He shares what it was like to be compared to a Nazi for his refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony.
In June the Supreme Court agreed to hear Jack Phillips’ lawsuit – Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Alliance Defending Freedom has filed an opening brief on his behalf.
“Tolerance should be a two-way street. Phillips gladly serves anyone who walks into his store, but, as is customary practice for many artists, he declines opportunities to design for a variety of events and messages that conflict with his deeply held beliefs. In this case, Jack told the couple suing him he’d sell them anything in the store but just couldn’t design a custom cake celebrating their wedding because of his Christian faith,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner said in released statement last week. “The First Amendment protects Jack’s right to create artistic expression that is consistent with his core convictions. Individuals can support both same-sex marriage and Jack, and people should have the right to disagree on critical matters of conscience. The same government that can force Jack to violate his faith and conscience can force any one of us to do the same.”
The Colorado State Court of Appeals affirmed the Colorado Civil Rights Commission decision from May of 2014. Their decision ordered Phillips and the Masterpiece Cakeshop employees to design cakes for same-sex wedding ceremonies since the shop designs cakes for opposite-sex ceremonies. It also required re-education for the bakery’s staff that essentially communicated that Phillips was wrong to operate his business according to his religious convictions. He also has to report to the state for two years the cakes he declines to create and why. Alliance Defending Freedom estimates Phillips has lost about 40 percent of his business.
The Colorado Supreme Court declined to take his case after the state’s Court of Appeals decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in this lawsuit will have major implications for Christian business owners.
Watch the video below:
