Commentary: Refusing to Bake You a Cake Doesn’t Say I Hate You

Are Christians being singled out by the gay mafia?  It's a question raised by my friend and former co-worker, Doug Beatty, who is soliciting opinions for his own show.  My reply follows:

Barry Goldwater caught hell in 1964 for citing Thomas Jefferson in opposing the Civil Rights Act.  Goldwater suggested we should all be able to choose the people we do business with (Rand Paul also echoes this thinking.)  This would include refusing service to the shirtless, people with lifestyles you don’t approve of in good conscience, fat people, short people, skinny people, Catholics, Methodists, and Hindu, white, black or green.  I know we can’t fathom this as liberty some 50 years on and even bringing it up brings allegations you’re a “hater”.

Keep in mind, nothing in the Constitution bars us from hate and surely nothing protects us from having our feelings hurt.  Now, so far, any legal reading of what I’ve said is in no way an endorsement of hate.  Unequivocally I haven’t said hate is O.K.

I will say this, if someone won’t bake you a cake or serve you lunch someone else with an eye on the profit motive will.  In fact businesses welcoming gays, Jews, blacks, Hindus and Latinos will do very well compared to the selective merchant.  I know of a financial planner in Lewes, Delaware who has opened a whole new avenue of business by openly advertising he’ll invest the money of the gay community.  If I lived in that part of town I’d be knocking on his door.

As far as those nasty and crusty old folks in Mississippi circa 1964 they weren’t defeated by laws, the FBI or National Guard.  They were defeated by mass media.  TV cameras suddenly came along and people being attacked by dogs, hanged from trees or burned out of houses of worship horrified civilized folks.  Even in the Deep South.  CBS and NBC ended segregation.

They won’t bring an end to Christian conscience.  Martyrdom will only restore the numbers of faithful.  This is an entirely different matter than a lunch counter at Woolworth’s in North Carolina.  Many Christians fear they’ll violate their beliefs and be barred from heaven.  If someone offered you the choice of fines and jail or eternity in hell, what would you choose?