Why Masterpiece Cakeshop Deserves to Win

Aaron Blumer

In any nation that aspires to be free, freedoms will clash, and there will be winners and losers. Speeding laws limit the freedom to drive fast in favor of the freedom to drive safely. Theft laws limit the freedom to take things we want in favor of the freedom to keep what’s ours. In the retail setting, antidiscrimination laws limit the freedom to sell selectively in favor of the freedom to buy what we want without being turned away because the seller doesn’t like “our kind of people.”

Soon, the Supreme Court will rule in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (if it hasn’t already by the time this post appears). When it does, it’s likely that one set of freedoms will be protected or expanded, and another set will be limited. Which freedoms should prevail?

Though I’m not a lawyer, several features of the case are clear to me, and they point toward the conclusion that the Court ought to rule in favor of Masterpiece Cakeshop.

Discussion

The Curious Case of the Christian Baker – A Summary of Oral Arguments

TylerR

This article is a short summary of the oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on December 5, 2017. In the article, I provide a few bits of commentary. But, this is primarily a summary.1 Hopefully, it can spur each of us on to consider the issue of soul liberty in the public square in these troubled times.

Discussion

Phony Virtue is Ruining Western Society

Filings

“Over the past 300 years, Western culture has overthrown its traditional understanding of virtue and replaced it with an ersatz morality. This revolution has allowed personally vile people to claim the loftiest moral standing while, in their daily lives, freely treating those around them with gross disrespect and abuse.” American Conservative

Discussion

6 Quotes: C.S. Lewis on government, economics, and freedom

Filings

“Is there any possibility of getting the super Welfare State’s honey and avoiding the sting? Let us make no mistake about the sting. The Swedish sadness is only a foretaste. To live his life in his own way, to call his house his castle, to enjoy the fruits of his own labour, to educate his children as his conscience directs, to save for their prosperity after his death—these are wishes deeply ingrained in civilised man.

Discussion

Christians, Moral Hazards, and Roy Moore

Filings

“The entire time, all the girls are lying?” the man shouted, right before he was escorted out of the event. “Why would they lie?” ….Pastor: “I would remind everyone,” he sniffed, “that this is a worship service.” One could laugh, or cry, or marvel at how much this strange episode eerily resembles a cut-rate, mawkish cable-TV stereotype of a benighted Southern church.

Discussion