Why Masterpiece Cakeshop Is a Win for Religious Freedom

SCOTUS didn't touch the First Amendment issue, but Kennedy's decision smacked down anti-Christian hostility

Mark Hemingway at Weekly Standard   . . . "The court ruled that the government has an obligation to act neutrally with regard to religious beliefs when evaluating whether forcing someone to violate those beliefs is ultimately in the public interest, and that that the commission did not do so in regard to Phillips. The majority opinion written by Anthony Kennedy, the court’s swing vote and author of Obergefell majority opinion, really hammered this point home:

The commissioner even went so far as to compare Phillips’ invocation of his sincerely held religious beliefs to defenses of slavery and the Holocaust. This sentiment is inappropriate for a Commission charged with the solemn responsibility of fair and neutral enforcement of Colorado’s antidiscrimination law—a law that protects discrimination on the basis of religion as well as sexual orientation. The record shows no objection to these comments from other commissioners. And the later state-court ruling reviewing the Commission’s decision did not mention those comments, much less express concern with their content. Nor were the comments by the commissioners disavowed in the briefs filed in this Court. For these reasons, the Court cannot avoid the conclusion that these statements cast doubt on the fairness and impartiality of the Commission’s adjudication of Phillips’ case. . . .

The Supreme Court Pushes Back Against the Rising Tide of Anti-Religious Animus

The Supreme Court took an important step in recognizing that the First Amendment remains in force. It also confirmed what I have said for years, namely, that LGBT activism is the principle threat to freedoms of religion, speech, and conscience in America. May the pushback against this extremism continue.