Win for Religious Freedom

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the latest win for religious freedom. In 2012 Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of “Sweet Cakes by Melissa,” declined to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. They made their decision due to their religious belief that marriage is a sacred union between a male and female. The lesbian couple chose to file a suit with the anti-discrimination panel in 2013. 

            Oregon State officials found that the Kleins had violated the Public Accommodations law, and a state court upheld the decision. The court found that “cakes do not deserve full First Amendment protection because they can’t be viewed as art and whatever expression they convey is not attributed to the creator.” The court also ruled that the Kleins’ free exercise claim was barred by the precedent and ordered the Kleins to pay $135,000 fine and to stop discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

            The Supreme Court saw things differently and lifted the order due to the 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. This case involved a baker in Colorado who declined to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple there due to his religious beliefs.

            It is important for us to note that the Justices ruled in favor of the Colorado baker because the state panel were hostile toward his religious beliefs. However, they did not make the case that religious believers can cite the First Amendment for refusing to cakes for same-sex marriages. This subject matter is still unsettled, but it will most likely come before the Supreme Court soon. There is a continuing dispute over whether the First Amendment to exercise religious beliefs trumps the LGBT rights to equal treatment or vice-versa.

            I believe that James Madison had a reason for putting religious freedom first in the First Amendment. Freedom of Religion is known as the First Freedom because it is listed first in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.