The US Supreme Court stopped short of establishing much of a
precedent when they sided with Colorado Baker, Jack Phillips, who refused to
bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. The basis, they said was that forcing
Phillips to violate his “sincere religious beliefs” was an attack on his 1st
amendment rights. What this means is
that this case doesn’t exactly absolve all commercial operations from discriminating
on the basis of sexual orientation, since it did not rule that his refusal was
a civil rights violation, but that’s what it meant for the original plaintiffs.
I am sincere when I recognize the court’s restraint in their
narrowly defined decision, but I can’t help but wonder if, despite this
restraint, they’ve still created a fairly broad, potentially dangerous
precedent. Their decision makes me
wonder how one proves “sincere religious beliefs,” and thus how far those
beliefs might extend when denying business to anyone else. It also makes me wonder how they know just
how sincere Mr. Phillips’s beliefs are.
Did they test him?
Did they ask him if he would also apply biblical rules to
straight couples?
Here are a few I’d have asked about:
Does Mr. Phillips refuse to take orders from women, since 1
Timothy 12 tells us, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority
over a man; she must be quiet.” And if
you don’t like that one, how about, “They are not allowed to speak, but must be
in submission, as the law says.” 1 Corinthians 14:34
If he takes orders from women (violating what we must assume
are two of his “sincere religious beliefs” does he only do so when the woman’s
husband or father is present, since, a woman’s vow is basically meaningless
unless approved by her husband or father. Numbers 30:1-16
Does Mr. Phillips prohibit menstruating women from entering
his bakery, or does he allow it to be unclean, as described by Leviticus 15:
19-31? (does the health department know?)
By the way, men sleeping with women is also “dirty” according to
Revelation 14, since only the 144,000 men who had never been with a woman were
given an early pass to the afterlife.
They were the “first fruits.”
Hmmm. Revelation doesn’t say they couldn’t be with other men.
Mr. Phillips clearly won’t violate his beliefs about gay
couples, even though the bible NEVER actually mentions or prohibits them, but
is he cool making a cake for a rapist as long as the rapist buys the woman from
her father, thus making her is heterosexual wife/property like Deuteronomy
22:28-29 advises? Will he bake a cake
for a virgin woman taken as “spoils of war,” and the man who took her? I’m sure they’re a lovely hetero couple.
Numbers 31
What about a little earlier Deuteronomy…the part about how “used
wives” should be stoned to death? Surely
he wouldn’t make a cake for any bride who can’t prove her virginity as these
verses explain.
What about the dudes?
How does Mr. Phillips de-conflict the Leviticus advice to “not round the
corners of your heads, nor mar the corners of your beards” with Paul’s
suggestion that men “naturally” have short hair and women have long hair? What, exactly, do Mr. Phillips “sincere
religious beliefs” require of his patrons when it comes to hair care? Is there a barber nearby Mr. Phillips might
recommend?
Is there a dress code at this bakery? (back to Deuteronomy and Leviticus…) Is it
cool to wear clothes woven from two different materials or no? Does Phillips have staff who check this at
the door? I’m only asking because I don’t
want to piss him off. I’m in a
heterosexual marriage and all, but this stuff is tough to keep track of and I
don’t want to attack his sincere religious beliefs.
Perhaps it would be easier for all of us, if Phillips’s
sincere religious beliefs focused a little more on John 13:34, “as I have loved
you, love each other,” because I’m pretty sure Jesus would’ve just baked the
cake. Mark 12:31 helps de-conflict
everything: “love thy neighbor as thyself, there is no greater commandment.” I’d bake a cake for my neighbor. Mr. Phillips would not. So how serious are those beliefs?
Luth
Out
