Jack Phillips bakes cakes for a living in Colorado. He serves everyone — but not every event. When he declined to make a cake for a 2012 same-sex wedding for some of his regular customers, the couple took legal action saying he violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
Since then, the case has gone all the way to the Supreme Court and just yesterday the Trump Administration sided with Phillips’ right to refuse service for an even that violated his religious beliefs.
“I serve everybody, I just don’t make cakes for every event. It’s never the people, it’s always the event I look at it and say, ‘I can’t do that,'” Phillips said.
The Administration says they agree with Phillips that his work is a form of artistic expression, and that his religious freedom stands strong in this case.
“Forcing Phillips to create expression for and participate in a ceremony that violates his sincerely held religious beliefs invades his First Amendment rights,” Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall wrote in the brief.
No matter the ultimate outcome of the case, though, Phillips have received his own share of persecution for simply following this traditional Christian convictions. Those in his own town have scorned him, one state government official even comparing him to a Nazi or slaveowner for his decisions and calling religious freedom a “despicable rhetoric.”
Billy Hallowell wrote for Faithwire yesterday about the name-calling — and a revealing video showing Phillips speaking about his father’s World War II military service, liberating those from Buchenwald concentration camp.
Phillips said the Nazi comparison was “particularly offensive” because of how much he values his fathers military service.
“He landed on Omaha beach in Normandy, he fought across France, he fought across Germany, he ended up being part of a group that helped liberate Buchenwald concentration camp,” Phillips explained.
Phillips said his bakery is a place where everyone is welcome, no matter their politics, sexuality or otherwise — and that God wants us to show His love to every person we come in contact with.
“All these soldiers, they fought for these freedoms…and it’s not just my issue, it’s for every American,” said Phillips. “They didn’t sacrifice all this just to see it wasted away.”