COLORADO SUPREMELY EVIL COURT: 'BAKE THE GLBT CAKE'

WND EXCLUSIVE

JUDGMENT DAY FOR CHRISTIAN BAKER 'VIOLATING FAITH'

Businessman dragged through mud for beliefs about marriage

Bob Unruh

Four members of the Colorado Supreme Court, including one justice who boasts on a state website of being a homosexual-rights advocate through the Denver mayor’s “GLBT Commission,” have refused to intervene in a case that is forcing a Colorado baker to violate his Christian faith.

The ruling from the court on Monday drew a statement from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been fighting for the religious rights of Lakewood, Colorado, baker Jack Phillips.

“We asked the Colorado Supreme Court to take this case to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the people’s freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a living,” said Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco.

“Jack, who has happily served people of all backgrounds for years, simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message and event with which he disagrees, and that freedom shouldn’t be placed in jeopardy for anyone. We are evaluating all legal options to preserve this freedom for Jack.”

The court on Monday issued a terse statement denying a petition for review.

It said that Chief Justice Nancy Rice and Justice Nathan Coats would have reviewed the case because of the important questions it raises. But four other justices, including Monica Marquiz, who boasts of winning the Colorado GLBT Bar Association’s 2009 Outstanding GLBT Attorney Award, joined with a growing social movement that insists homosexual rights trump the religious rights protected by the Constitution.

For Rice and Coats, the issues that need to be reviewed include whether the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) “requires Phillips to create artistic expression that contravenes his religious beliefs about marriage,” whether “applying CADA to force Phillips to create artistic expression that contravenes his religious beliefs about marriage violates his free speech rights under the United States and Colorado Constitutions” and whether “applying CADA to force Phillips to create artistic expression that violates his religious beliefs about marriage infringes his free exercise rights under the United States and Colorado Constitutions.”

WND has reported numerous cases similar to Phillips’ in which Christians have suffered punishment for adhering to religious principles.

The other three justices joining the campaign were Brian Boatright, William Hood III, and Richard Gabriel..

All four refused to respond to WND requests for comment. A court spokesman later told WND they were not allowed to speak on the issues, including whether Marquez had a conflict of interest. The state code requires judges to “avoid both impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in their professional and personal lives.”

The case erupted when Phillips declined to produce a “wedding” cake for two homosexuals, who then filed a complaint with the state.

The state’s antagonism to Christians was apparent when Diann Rice, a member of the state civil rights commission, which reviewed the allegations, said: “I would also like to reiterate what we said in the hearing or the last meeting. Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust, whether it be – I mean, we – we can list hundreds of situations where freedom of religion has been used to justify discrimination. And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use to – to use their religion to hurt others.”

Hear a recording of Rice’s statement:

Lower adjudicators agreed with the commission’s intent to penalize Phillips, even though an administrative law judge’s findings, which have been undisputed throughout the case, documented Phillips’ consistent business policy based on his religious beliefs.

The judge, at the time, found:

• “Phillips has been a Christian for approximately 35 years, and believes in Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior. As a Christian, Phillips’ main goal in life is to be obedient to Jesus and His teachings in all aspects of his life.”
• “Based on the teachings of the Bible, Phillips ‘believes … that God’s intention for marriage is the union of one man and one woman.'”
• “Phillips ‘believes that the Bible commands him to avoid doing anything that would displease God, and not to encourage sin in any way.'”
• “Phillips believes that decorating cakes is a form of art and creative expression, and that he can honor God through his artistic talents.”
• “Phillips ‘believes that if he uses his artistic talents to participate in same-sex weddings by creating a wedding cake, he will be displeasing God and acting contrary to the teachings of the Bible.'”
• “Phillips ‘advised’ the mother of one of the persons in the same-sex couple ‘that he does not create wedding cakes for same-sex weddings because of his religious beliefs, and because Colorado does not recognize same-sex marriages.'”

ADF reported, however, the administrative law judge “inexplicably and erroneously concluded that Phillips and Masterpiece refused to bake and sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple ‘because of [that couple’s] sexual orientation.'”

See the Big List of Christian Coercion compiled by WND, where officials, business owners and others have been bludgeoned by the law, activists – even judges – for their faith.

ADF pointed out in its brief the apparent hypocrisy of Colorado’s judiciary.

Its brief noted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission found that three bakeries whose operators “declined to design a cake celebrating a customer’s religious beliefs about sex and marriage” were allowed to do so.

The commission “acquitted these bakeries because they were willing, like Phillips, to create any other cake for the customer and declined because the order offended their beliefs,” the brief said.

“Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality” chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state, and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!

“Yet the commission ruled Phillips violated [the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act], thereby compelling him to violate his conscience while allowing the other bakeries to exercise their right to decline to do so.”

The filing argued the ruling amounts to the government forcing speech on Phillips, which is unconstitutional.

“The freedom to live and work consistently with one’s faith is at the heart of what it means to be an American,” said Tedesco. “Jack simply exercised the long-cherished American freedom to decline to use his artistic talents to promote a message with which he disagrees. We are asking the Colorado Supreme Court to ensure that government understands that its duty is to protect the people’s freedom to follow their beliefs personally and professionally, not force them to violate those beliefs as the price of earning a living.”

In July 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked Phillips for a wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex ceremony.

ADF said that in an exchange lasting about 30 seconds, Phillips “politely declined, explaining that he would gladly make them any other type of baked item they wanted but that he could not make a cake promoting a same-sex ceremony because of his faith.”

Craig and Mullins filed a complaint, and the American Civil Liberties Union joined in even though the duo got a cake from another baker.

State officials found Phillips had discriminated, ADF explained, but then turned around and ruled that Azucar Baker, Gateaux and Le Bakery Sensual did not discriminate when they refused to bake cakes in the shape of Bibles with Bible verses on them.

The bakeries alleged they refused the business because of the message, not the customer. And state officials cleared them.

However, when Phillips explained he refused business because of the message, not the customer, the state found he had discriminated, the brief explained.

“Phillips … honors God through his creative work by declining to use his artistic talents to design and create cakes that violate his religious beliefs,” the petition states. “This includes cakes with offensive written messages and cakes celebrating events or ideas that violate his beliefs, including cakes celebrating Halloween, anti-American or anti-family themes, atheism, racism, or indecency.

“He also will not create cakes with hateful, vulgar, or profane messages, or sell any products containing alcohol. … Consistent with this longtime practice, Phillips also will not create cakes celebrating any marriage that is contrary to biblical teaching.”

The state’s plan for Phillips includes indoctrinating bakery workers regarding the treatment of homosexual customers. The state is ordering him to create cakes for same-sex celebrations, re-educate his staff and file quarterly “compliance” reports for two years.

See the Big List of Christian Coercion compiled by WND, where officials, business owners and others have been bludgeoned by the law, activists – even judges – for their faith.

The state admitted the case “juxtaposes” the rights of the homosexuals to Phillips’ rights, but it concluded that Phillips’ rights are secondary to the rights of homosexuals to buy a wedding cake wherever they choose.

The identical issue also arose recently in Northern Ireland, but court proceedings have been delayed while a state’s attorney prepares arguments that the anti-discrimination laws intended to protect homosexual consumers discriminate against Christians.

In Northern Ireland, Ashers Baking Co. is appealing a lower court ruling that found the company violated anti-discrimination protections by refusing to fulfill a customer’s request for a cake celebrating “gay marriage.”

According to the Christian Institute, which is representing Ashers, a Belfast court of appeal has decided to allow Attorney General John Larkin to present evidence at a hearing in May that Northern Ireland’s anti-discrimination laws impose unfair discrimination against those who hold certain religious beliefs.

Simon Calvert, deputy director of the institute, described the court case as a “legal, political and theological saga.”

“The attorney general has decided to intervene, using his constitutional power to raise questions about the validity of the legislation used against the [bakery owners] McArthurs,” Calvert noted. “And it is clear from the decision taken by the three judges, including the lord chief justice, that he has raised matters of importance.”

At issue was whether the European Convention on Human Rights was being violated by the local regulation that could force people to advocate for homosexuality.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/judgment-day-for-christian-baker-violating-faith/#oclG26lyjbdQrQRl.99

My comments: The Supremely Evil Colorado Court acts like Nazis in Demanding that the Baker, bake a cake with a message Contrary to his Faith and Conscience. This godless action is Against God and His Word, and it is to Him that this Court will Answer in the End.