JUSTICE FIRED UP FOR BAKER DEFENSE
In September, the Justice Department filed papers in the Supreme Court to support Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker sued for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Justice attorneys agreed Phillips’ cakes are a form of expression, and the court can’t compel him to use it because his religion eschews same-sex marriage. “When Phillips designs and creates a custom wedding cake for a specific couple and a specific wedding, he plays an active role in enabling that ritual, and he associates himself with the celebratory message conveyed,” Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall wrote in the brief. Forcing Phillips to do just that for same-sex couples, he argued, “violates his sincerely held religious beliefs [and invalidates] his First Amendment rights.” Phillips is the plaintiff in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Civil Rights Commission of Colorado, in which he is accused of discrimination. The case, seen as a key test of civil-rights gains for homosexual advocates, is on the docket for the Supreme Court term that starts in October.
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 21:2; Matthew 6:33.
PRAY: Restoration for those ensnared in sexual sin
ACTION: Write a postcard to Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall: Dear Mr. Wall, Thank you for the Justice department’s defense of baker Jack Phillips. I am praying the Supreme Court upholds his civil rights. Office of the Solicitor General 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20530-0001.
