Posted on 06/10/2021 6:31:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Christian baker in Colorado who has been at the center of a yearslong debate after he declined to make a cake for a same-sex wedding has revealed the intense harassment and “horrific” response he and his business faced amid the fallout.
“The emails [and] the phone calls were sometimes horrific,” Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips recently told the “Edifi With Billy Hallowell” podcast of the events that followed his July 2012 cake refusal. “You’d just hear profanity.”
Phillips, who shares his story in the new book, The Cost of My Faith, said he had to protect his staff and totally take over any and all incoming phone calls to the bakery, as his business was severely impacted by the anger and angst.
And before long, the nasty phone calls morphed into something far more diabolical.
"We had our store vandalized. We had death threats,” he said. “I had a guy call me up one day, said he was in his car, he's got a gun, he's on his way to the shop and he's going to blow my head off ... the man kept calling and calling. It was just crazy."
Listen to Phillips share his story and reveal why he wouldn’t simply “bake the cake” as some implored:
Phillips, who has spent the past nine years amidst legal battles stemming from the refusal, recounted the day two men came into Masterpiece Cakeshop and sought a wedding cake.
“I sat down, I introduced myself … I immediately knew what my answer would be,” he said, noting that he said, “I’m sorry, guys, I don’t do cakes for same-sex weddings.”
The men were purportedly frustrated and left the bakery, with their anger leaving Phillips a bit shocked.
“I was stunned. I tried to be polite,” he said. “I tried to, in that couple of sentences, let them know that I’d be happy to serve them in any other capacity … but this was a cake, because of the message and my faith, that I couldn’t create.”
The baker said his phone started ringing within 20 minutes of the encounter and then emails started streaming in. That quick encounter was soon a national debate, and by October — just three months later — Phillips received notice that he was being sued by Colorado.
“The [Colorado Civil Rights Commission] required me to change my policies, ignore my faith,” Phillips explained. “And when I’m at the cake shop I don’t get to exercise my freedom of religion.”
The baker said he would have had no rights over the design of his cakes and that the incident would force him to report to the commission quarterly for two years as he retrained his staff to meet government standards. Phillips stood his ground and battled the government in court.
As the legal battle progressed, he eventually decided to simply stop making wedding cakes altogether.
“We decided that the way around it was not to create wedding cakes at all,” Phillips said. “We were doing probably 300 wedding cakes every year. But we had to give that up.”
Despite the chaotic problems that followed, Phillips has continued over the past decade to defend his decision. After years of seeing his case volley back and forth in the courts, the Supreme Court reversed Colorado’s punishment in 2018 and offered a victory of sorts.
Phillips still faces the fallout from a separate 2017 instance in which a customer contacted the bakery and asked for a cake to celebrate a gender transition — something Phillips declined. He has since been back in court to battle over that incident.
Despite all of the chaos, though, the baker made one thing clear: he believes God has sustained him throughout the ordeal.
“God’s provided everything we needed all the way through,” he said.
For more powerful and inspiring interviews, be sure to listen to “Edifi With Billy Hallowell.”
“Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.”
Genesis 19
It’s really pointless to show gay activists this Bible verse in Genesis.
1) Most aren’t devout Christians, much less believers in Scripture
2) Even if they say they’re Bible believing Christians, they will say this verse doesn’t apply to them because they are not advocating homosexual rape like the men of Sodom were. They just want the right to “Marry” like any other couple.
“Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them.”
The daughters must have been mortified to hear that.
“I had a guy call me up one day, said he was in his car, he’s got a gun, he’s on his way to the shop and he’s going to blow my head off ... the man kept calling and calling. It was just crazy.”
The proper response is, “Bring it b-—h. Quit calling and get here already. Lets go!”
Phillips still faces the fallout from a separate 2017 instance in which a customer contacted the bakery and asked for a cake to celebrate a gender transition — something Phillips declined. He has since been back in court to battle over that incident.
To me, this Christian Post podcast/article, and its author, short-changes Jack Phillips’ battle for his religious faith. While the original 2012 refusal ‘may’ have been at random, the battles after for the 9 years has been specific and designed to make him an example. Just his expenses makes him, at the very least, an economic martyr!
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission, an unelected governmental body enabled to administratively assess civil fines, was hardly an unbiased operation. That was made clear by the US Supreme Court’s reversal based upon that fact. Indeed that decision has been rightly criticized on the basis of being such a narrow finding as to be limiting for use as precedence.
Left unsaid is that this highlights the overly broad scope of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in its ‘Public Accommodation’ clause. While many saw it as necessary to prevent the known past acts of whites-only rental and home purchases, it is very unlikely that the Congressional authors envisioned this usage.
Masterpiece Cakeshop / Jack Phillips was hardly a monopoly provider nor did he practice discrimination in his general business. His 1st Amendment Religious Freedom was to not participate or profit from something that went counter to his FAITH! Yet this has caused him to be endlessly attacked in consequence.
My understanding from recent news is that he has yet again been cited by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission as well as several personal & business suits for ... “Not Baking a Cake”. Gad Bless him!
As bad as Lot was, he was “righteous” compared with the rest of Sodom’s resident. So Sodom was hopelessly wicked.
There goes his chance for “Father of The Year”. But it is mortifying and a part of the story that is too often glossed over.
That was my first thought as well. I have a daughter and would never allow her to be raped if I could help it.
Time is on the side of the queers. Bake the cake.
I don't ever show Bible verses to non-believers, especially hard-core and aggressive ones. Pearls before swine, and all that. I'm not a street-evangelization type.
Rather, the Bible is an instruction manual. Its a representation of, and guide to, human behavior and psychology across all ages.
What struck me, and why I posted it, is that this story in Genesis is an allegory showing the tendency to violence, the psychology of sex and sexual excess, and mob politics. Is not this Colorado Baker a modern-day Lot, with mob of perverts are at his door literally wanting to tear him limb-from-limb?
There’s much to be said for standing for your principles and beliefs. Not many would keep up under such onslaught.
For those that had too much too lose, too many employees to support - let Jimmy the dishwasher/intern do that cake - he’s been looking for a chance to move up in the organization. He can even do some examples for the LBGTQ+ABC Theme Gallery Notebook....
“Sure we can do your cake - here’s what you can get.”
Offering up his daughters instead? This is just another sick bible story that religious people ascribe false meaning to.
Another sick bible story is the guy being willing to kill his son - and we are supposed to interpret that as a good thing? A measure of his “faith”? LOL.
The important thing about this wedding cake story is not about religion or morals - it is about freedom.
In America, a man should not be forced to enter into a transaction against his will - regardless of what his reasons are.
You should be able to decline work or employment without even giving an explanation. It should be totally your choice - just like choosing whether or not to buy something at the store - or what store you choose to shop in. It’s nobody else’s business.
When I was a building contractor - if four people interviewed for a job and I only needed one, I just hired the one I liked the most. What’s wrong with that? The workers were free to choose what jobs to apply for or what offers to accept. Why shouldn’t I be free to chose who to offer the job to?
The world has gone crazy and it’s not about morals - it’s about freedom. I don’t care what homos do, or whether they want to call what they are doing “marriage”.
The homos should be free to do whatever they want, and the cake-baker should be free to do whatever he wants.
The problem here isn’t sodemy - the problem is people trying to make someone bake a cake he didn’t want to bake. Period.
Ironically, these “sick” Bible stories just keep occurring among humanity, irregardless of place, time or country. Humans haven’t had much luck changing them. Maybe these “sick” stories are merely trying to give you a “heads up” about what to expect from the human condition, and what sort of character and virtues you should cultivate in order to face it?
Also, when the frenzied mob is at your door demanding you submit to them and their ideology, good luck explaining your philosophy of individual choice and freedom to them.
“....good luck explaining your philosophy of individual choice and freedom to them.”
Right. Freedom isn’t something you explain - it’s something you fight for.
The gay/LQBTQ agenda does seem like a runaway train.
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