On December 6, a judge ruled against a Colorado-based confectionery’s refusal to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple who wanted to celebrate their marriage. He said that same-sex couples have their religious freedom and they should not be discriminated against on grounds of their sexual orientation.
After the judgment was passed, Fox and Friends invited Jack Phillips, owner of the confectionery Masterpiece Cakeshop, to a segment called ‘The Death of Free Enterprise’ where the panel concluded that the judge’s ruling was a slippery slope to the end of constitutional freedoms. Fox host Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked Phillips if this incident ‘could set precedent in terms of private businesses having to completely shed what they believe in personally to offer their products or services to consumers’.
“I don’t feel that I should participate in their wedding and when I do a cake, I feel like I’m participating in the ceremony or celebration that the cake is for,” said Phillips.
In an editorial piece on his website, Phillips said that he was a victim of religious persecution. According to him, he did not discriminate against the same-sex couple because of their sexual orientation as he has always followed Colorado’s non-discrimination law. By refusing to sell a wedding cake to the couple, he only meant to avoid participating in an event that would violate his personal religious beliefs.
Keeping Phillips’ arguments in mind, Administrative Law Judge Robert Spencer said that Colorado does not acknowledge same-sex marriage but Masterpiece Cakes’ refusal to sell a cake to the couple was undoubtedly based on their sexual orientation. He also addressed Phillips’ allegation about his freedom of speech and religion being attacked, and clarified that selling cakes to consumers does not qualify as either.
Have a look at the segment that aired on Fox News on December 10.
Opinions
Chad G. St. Onge
My priority would be towards my faith rather than my safety and security." Yet again we see the damages of religion. Of course FOX news would pick this up though. Not only is FOX directed at Christian conservatives, but they are the most unreliable news source. Most people in the world know this. I'm not American, but even Canadians know how full of crap FOX news is with their biased and untrue news. It angers me that they are allowed to broadcast. Canada has even taken measures so that FOX is not included in regular tv packages, but rather still available only if people are willing to pay extra to access it. The CRTC has deemed it as a news network that lies, which violates Canadian standards of broadcasting.
Casper Rigsby
Forget "Faux News", we all know what a bunch of clowns those guys are. There's something here that most people will miss that lies at the heart of the religious problem. You see, this bakery owner said he refused to make the cake because he didn't want to participate in the ceremony of this couple and the shear arrogance of that very thought should upset most people. That couple didn't invite him to their ceremony - they engaged him to provide a service that frankly can be provided at your local Costco. Would he feel the same about making cupcakes for the birthday party of some random child? Would he be "participating" in that celebration too? I'm sure in his deluded and self-absorbed mind he would be... because his religion has facilitated his own delusion that he is the center of the universe.
But this isn't really new, is it? Christians have long believed that they get to bake the cake and eat it too.
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Debapriya Chatterjee
Unfortunate how certain television news channels make kangaroo courts out of themselves and try to overrule verdicts that have been passed by respectable judges.
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