Washington Supreme Court: It's Illegal to be a Christian

It's a sad day for religious liberty.  The Washington State Supreme Court ruled unanimously against Baronnelle Stutzman, the 72-year-old florist who was sued for refusing to make an arrangement for a gay wedding.  You can read about it here.  We lost the battle, but the we haven't lost the war.  Stutzman and her attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom will appeal this ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is a huge case because this decision affects all Christians in the state of Washington, and the outcome of the SCOTUS decision will affect everyone -- especially Christians -- in our country.  Here's what we need to do:

1. Pray for Mrs. Stutzman, an active member of a Southern Baptist Church, just like like Church Acadiana.
2. Financially support Alliance Defending Freedom.  Our church made a huge donation to this organization through our Christmas Offering this year.  I encourage you to donate again to them today.
3. Make the case for religious liberty.  Pastors need to be preaching about religious liberty and the implications of this case from the pulpit.  And all Christians need to be active on social media.  You may not be interested in the government, but the government is very interested in you.  It's time to get involved.

Here's the bottom line:  The Washington Supreme Court has basically ruled that it is illegal to be a Christian in the state of Washington.  Oh, it is okay to be a Christian, as long as you betray your Christian beliefs about marriage, gender, and sexual morality.  In fact, you don't even have to do that.  It's just illegal to be a Christian if you want to make a living in the wedding industry -- florists, bakers, photographers, caterers, musicians, DJs, etc.

The First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion.  This amendment does not just guarantee religious freedom in your home or church, but everywhere -- including your workplace.  This means that Christians -- those who believe in the Biblical definition of marriage, gender, and sexuality -- should be able to exercise those beliefs at work.  The freedom to be gay is not a license to trample another citizen's freedom of religion.

As well, the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing religion.  This means that the government cannot force people to believe, or punish people for not believing.  But that is exactly what the Washington Supreme Court has done.  They are punishing a Christian -- all Christians -- by forcing them out of the wedding industry because they cannot get on board with the sexual revolution.

State and federal governments must move quickly, in light of the rapidly moving sexual revolution, to protect people of faith who believe in traditional morality.  A just law would look something like this:

• Homosexuals have the freedom to live as homosexuals.  
• Christians have the freedom to live as Christians.
• A homosexual couple does not have the right to force a Christian wedding vendor to participate in their wedding, thereby violating their conscience.
• A Christian does not have the right to force a homosexual business owner to participate in an event or publish a message that violates their conscience.
• Society as a whole is better off if the homosexual simply has to find another wedding vendor rather than persecuting Christians for their religious beliefs.
• Society as a whole is better off if the Christian simply has to find another vendor rather than giving the government the power to force business owners to violate their conscience.

This is the only way we can continue to coexist in a pluralistic society.  It's called tolerance.  And though progressives throw the word around a lot, they are still clueless as to what it means.