Equal rights to cake

Just as in the U.S., bakers in the United Kingdom are being sued for refusing to create wedding cakes for gay couples. [Source]

"David Scoffield, lawyer for the bakery’s owners, argued Tuesday that the family should not be compelled to create a product "to which they have a genuine objection in conscience.'" In this case, a Bert and Ernie cake with the slogan "Support Gay Marriage."

"Scoffield told the court, 'The notion that Christians may exercise their faith on Sundays but forget about it when they step into work on Monday is not real freedom of religion and is not freedom of conscience.'"

Now, while I think it's disturbing to sexualize characters from a children's TV show, I disagree with the argument that freedom of religion allows refusal of service. In its structure, this is the same argument used to justify segregation and anti-miscegenation laws.

Defendants, nominally Christian, say that treating certain classes of people as equals is "against my religion," but no one dares to question the consistency of that religion.

For example, with regards to anti-miscegenation, people cite Old Testament passages like Deuteronomy 7:3 or Nehemiah 13:26-28 to say there should be "no mixing of the races." My maternal grandmother subscribed to this line of thinking.

This group then ignores New Testament passages like Galatians 3:27-29, which wiped away those old distinctions. (Interestingly, it stresses this applies to "all of you who were baptized.")

So it is with bakery defendants in the United States. In California, Kern County Superior Court Judge David Lampe distinguished between cake sale and cake creation when ruling against an injunction on a local bakery, saying that the defendant in the case could object to the latter, but not the former. [Source]

As a legal position, this is a good middle ground. In other circumstances, a bakery owner can refuse hate speech they find objectionable, but they must at least sell the cake to anyone.

However, when considered as a Christianity issue, the bakery owner is incorrect. Consider what she said to the Bakersfield Californian, a local newspaper:

"I am very happy to serve everything from my cases to anybody," the bakery owner said. "But I cannot be a part of a celebration that goes against my lord and savior." [Source]

Conservatives (and I use this word rather than "Christians") will argue that the Bible is against gay marriage, and will cite passages such as 1 Timothy 1:9-11 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 to say Christians shouldn't have anything to do with gay marriage.

Perhaps, but I have yet to hear of a bakery owner who cites Matthew 5:31-32 in refusing to make a cake for someone's second marriage.

Nor have I heard of any bakery owners conducting investigations to ensure they don't make cakes for violators of Mark 7:20-23. Homosexuality may be a sin, but so is sexual immorality. What makes heterosexual immorality more acceptable to Christians than the homosexual sort?

In a word, well, either ignorance or hypocrisy. Either they don't know or they don't care. Take your pick.

The problem with treating the Bible (and by extension, Christianity) as a rulebook that applies to other people is that 1.) that makes no sense to non-Christians, and 2.) it also applies to oneself.

If at any point a Christian feels homosexuals don't deserve a wedding cake with their choice of lettering, they should consider this: perhaps not, but neither do we as Christians. Proverbs 18:22. Is there anyone who has been so blameless in their life that they can say they deserve what the Lord has given them?

It is true that there are people in this world who are dead in their sins, but the whole point of the Gospel (the "Good News," right?) is that they don't need to be. Colossians 2:13-15.

As Christians, we don't win by decrying celebrations "that go against [our] lord and savior." The win is when someone decides for themselves that living in accordance with the Good News is more important than anything else.

We don't get to that by insisting on our "rights" under secular law. Jesus knew that, and went the other direction. Philippians 2:5-8

We should do the same.

I'm still not fully comfortable with gay marriage. I probably never will be. But since when have matters of justice and fair treatment (the legal sorts) ever been about what makes white, heterosexual, middle class men comfortable?