To Bake Or Not To Bake

That is the question!

Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them.

And so, the Supreme Court decided that indeed, it was nobler to suffer the sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them. The baker in this case, doesn’t have to bake.

Now, this was a very narrow decision, but in fact, it was the right one. Not because I’m homophobic or anti-gay. Frankly, I don’t care what those folks do in the privacy of their own homes. But on a much broader basis.

If I own a business, and we’ve all seen these signs, I should have the right to run the business any way I want, so long as I’m within the law. And the signs that say the business has the right to refuse service to anyone are still out there. Now, was this particular baker in Colorado right in telling the gay couple why he didn’t want to bake the wedding cake for them? Personally, there were other ways around it if you didn’t want to bake that cake for religious reasons.

Frankly, he could have told them the cake, being custom, would cost them $2,000 or some ridiculous figure, and they most likely would go away. I had that happen to me once. I wanted my house painted by this one guy. He was going to basically charge me double what everyone else was quoting. I forced the issue by telling him, that was ok and when could he start. Of course, he had to come clean and tell me he didn’t want to paint my house at any price. But you get the idea.

If I own a business, and I have a religious reason for not serving someone, I’m well within my rights. That is protected by the FIRST amendment to the Constitution. I don’t believe gay marriage is listed at all there, and certainly not before religious freedom. Now, I don’t believe that you just deny service to someone because you don’t like the color of their skin, or their gender. But if you have a religious reason behind it, and let’s face it, it’s in the Bible (check Leviticus chapters 18 and 20 to start…and it’s in the New Testament as well), then you do have grounds for refusing service.

The Supreme Court was right in this case for the wrong reasons. Yes, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission was biased. Yes, they didn’t give the baker guy the fair hearing he deserved, and they were wrong for doing that. But the over-riding reason is, this baker still has a religious right that trumps everything else. And don’t begin to argue with me about how you can have a religious “right” to anything. This isn’t some made up, far-out religion. This is Christianity, and it’s in the Bible in several places. There isn’t anything out of line in this particular case.

The Supreme Court got it right. Let’s see if they get the next “religious freedom” case right. They’re going to be looking at accepting that I believe, today!

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!