What if you were fined $135,000 tomorrow because of your convictions? What would that mean for you, your family, and their future?
And then, you were ordered to be silent.
This scenario played out for Melissa and Aaron Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa. In 2013, Rachel Bowman-Cryer and her mother came in for a cake tasting where she shared with Aaron that there was no groom but instead two brides. Aaron then explained that he would not be able to provide a cake for the wedding because of his and Melissa’s religious belief in the sacredness of marriage between one man and one woman.
Soon after, the Kleins found themselves at the center of a lawsuit claiming they had illegally discriminated against the same-sex couple for not wanting to participate in their wedding.
Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian settled the decision by seizing the livelihood of the Klein family and demanding they pay the Bowman-Cryers $135,000.
What’s more, Melissa and Aaron Klein have now been ordered by Avakian to “cease and desist” – to stop speaking up about their beliefs and stop living and running their business in accordance to their convictions.
Justice Alito’s words in his dissenting opinion against the Supreme Court’s decision to redefine marriage are already coming to fruition when he wrote, “…those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools.”
The Klein’s stand isn’t just about their basic freedoms, but every American’s. It is only a matter of time before every one of us will be faced with the question of compromising our faith, or paying the consequences.
[…] This week, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich signed a letter along with 14 other state attorneys general to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. House Speaker John Boehner opposing the unprecedented power the government has taken restricting religious freedoms and imploring Congress to prevent the IRS from targeting religious groups and potentially driving them out of existence.
You can read the letter here.
