Government Tells Christian Bakers They Can’t Speak Out about Same Sex Marriage

Last updated on: July 8, 2015 at 9:34 am by Nancy French

Government Tells Christian Bakers They Can’t Speak Out about Same Sex Marriage 2015-07-08T09:34:18-05:00 Nancy French

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

kleins_0

So, that didn’t take long.

When same sex marriage advocates mock Christians who fear this will unravel religious freedom, they’re being disingenuous. Remember the Kleins, who refused to use their God-given talents to make a cake celebrating a same sex wedding? Well, they were fined $135,000 and — get this — given a gag order not to speak out against same sex marriage!

Heritage Foundation spokesman Hans von Spakovsky explains:

“They are being told that they can’t make any communication about their beliefs about sexual orientation in public accommodations that could in any way give anyone the indication that they might discriminate against them in their bakery business,” he states. “So that makes it pretty difficult [for them] to talk about their religious beliefs.”

And David French talks about the legal implications here:

On July 2, Brad Avakian, commissioner of Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI), ordered Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay $135,000 in damages for “emotional, mental and physical suffering” to a lesbian couple after the Kleins — owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa — declined to bake a cake celebrating their same-sex wedding. Avakian also ordered the Kleins to “cease and desist” from “publishing, circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published . . . any communication to the effect that any of the accommodations . . . will be refused, withheld from or denied to, or that any discrimination be made against, any person on account of their sexual orientation.”

This gag order explicitly applied not just to formal business communications but also to the Klein’s statements to the press, such as, “This fight is not over. We will continue to stand strong.” (While the order itself is extraordinarily broad and explicitly targets the Kleins’ public comments about their case, BOLI has since put out a contradictory statement to Media Matters that the Kleins can still talk about the case and “their opposition to Oregon anti-discrimination laws.”)

While this ruling has binding legal force, it is critical to understand that it is not the result of a conventional court proceeding. Rather, it is the product of an administrative process that is unrecognizable to those schooled in the rules and procedures of criminal and civil courts. It is a process that is rife with conflicts of interest, ideological from the start, and often insulated from conventional and appropriate judicial review.

In states across the country, discrimination complaints against businesses like the Kleins’ originate not in court but instead in state agencies like BOLI or in various state “human rights commissions.” The agencies and commissions are often led by explicitly ideological politicians who make no pretense of impartiality, instead openly declaring that they’ll aggressively find and punish “discrimination” wherever it’s found. Discrimination complaints are then investigated by agency investigators, tried by agency prosecutors, and decided by agency “judges” — often interpreting and applying rules drafted by the agency itself. Americans have long recognized the inherent bias when one person functions as “judge, jury, and executioner.” In the administrative agencies of the deep state, a single, highly ideological entity can function as rulemaker, investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury, and enforcer.

Read the rest here.

Read more on the Patheos Faith and Family Channel, follow Nancy on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 6, 2015

Camille Cosby's Dismissal of Victims Shows True Feminism

Next Post

July 8, 2015 Genitals as Wounds: TLC's Irresponsibile Celebration of Transgender Children

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Christmas faith family ministry music Television Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 March 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz