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Showing posts with the label Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

Why Jack Phillips’ win at the Supreme Court was a win for Christian conservatives

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There’s a lot of discussion about Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision which pitted religious freedoms against LGBT rights. Was the ruling really that significant? Since it was so narrow in scope, should Christian conservatives really rejoice? Did the justices merely kick the can down the road? (For my own take, see here and here .) Scores of articles have already been written on this, which means that it’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. The bottom line is that Jack Phillips won. His religious freedoms were upheld. There was a pushback against governmental hostility towards religion. All that is very good news. To put this in perspective, what if the Supreme Court had ruled against Phillips? What if the justices said that the state was within its rights to punish him for declining to design a same-sex “wedding” cake? What if there was no pushback against Colorado’s overt and explicit hostility towards Phillip’s Christian beliefs? What then? What would headlines hav

SCOTUS gets it right in Masterpiece Cakeshop case

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The Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling this week (7-2) in favour of the First Amendment. The Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC) case was about cake artistry, free speech and religious freedom. The clear majority held that: "The Commission's actions, in this case, violated the Free Exercise Clause [of the First Amendment]." Jack Phillips , a cake artist and owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, is a man of quiet courage, conviction and compassion. Though he's been demonized by LGBT activists, including the ACLU (which is representing plaintiffs Charlie Craig and Dave Mullins), he has always served everyone. He simply doesn't participate in or creates for every event. Like many creatives, he doesn't use his artistry for every occasion. He doesn't make Halloween cakes. He doesn't create anything with anti-American or "adult" themes. He doesn't make divorce cakes. And he doesn't use his artistic e