 |
| A Holy Book, Not A Cake (Photo by Raul654) |
Free speech not only entails what you choose to say, but also entails what you choose not to say.
When Colorado baker Marjorie Silva was asked
to add anti-gay messages to the top of a Bible-shaped cake, she refused to do so. Silva had instead offered to bake the actual cake and then give the customer “icing and a pastry bag so he could write the words himself.”
The customer not only declined this suggestion, but also filed a complaint with Colorado’s Civil Rights Division. He alleged that Silva had “discriminated against his religious beliefs.”
According to the Associated Press, the case is now being reviewed. Whereas some are saying that “Colorado’s public accommodation law is not working” at all, others are pointing out that there is a qualitative difference between Silva’s case and a previous one in which the baker was told that he had "to serve gay couples even though he argued that would violate his religious beliefs."
Silva did not refuse to serve her customer. She was willing to bake the Bible-shaped cake, and was even willing to hand over materials so that the customer could write the message himself. What Silva wasn’t willing to do was compromise her own free-speech principles by directly expressing messages that were contrary to her compassionate beliefs.
Resources
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/baker-faces-complaint-for-refusing-anti-gay-message-on-cake/ar-AA8soQI
Copyright January 23, 2015 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment