To Bake or Not to Bake? That Shouldn’t Be a Question.

Today’s Supreme Court decision regarding a Colorado bakery rekindled the national discussion surrounding the intersection of religious freedom and protection from discrimination. I know a lot of headlines simply said things like “SCOTUS sides with bakery,” but as I understand it the ruling had more to do with whether or not the bakers in question received a fair hearing from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission than if they have the right to discriminate against prospective clients. The decision even left room to say that a new impartial hearing could very possibly rule against the Masterpiece Cakeshop when all is said and done. Any final answer on this case could be years away yet. But I’m not exactly a lawyer and I’m not really here to talk about the legal angle anyways.

Instead, I want to discuss the idea of Christians who want to discriminate.

The proprietors of Masterpiece Cakeshop claim that their religion—Christianity—compels them to not make a cake for a same-sex couple. It's strange to me because my religion—also Christianity—compels me to denounce such behavior. I’d really like to ask them if they also believe their faith requires them to deny their services to anyone who is on their second or third marriage, or didn’t marry their late brother’s widow, or didn’t marry their rapist, or violated any other rule about marriage and sex found in the Bible, but that’s also not the main point I want to make here.

I mostly just want to point out how truly bizarre it is that people can claim to love a teacher who declared that loving other people is the second-most important imperative—preempted only by loving God—yet feel a need to discriminate and deny people access to their business. The teachings of Christ tend towards radical love that encompasses everyone and stands contrary to those who would draw lines of exclusion. Championing discrimination against LGBTQIA people is quite simply antithetical to Christ’s message of inclusive love. Whatever the eventual court ruling determines, it really shouldn’t change the Christian response to a gay couple who wants to buy a wedding cake. Christians should be at the forefront of inclusion, not the front lines of discrimination.