Supreme Court refuses to decide if floral artist loses her religious liberty at shop door

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Friday to hear a case from a Christian florist challenging Washington state law which forced her to provide her services for same-sex weddings.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Thomas Alito, and Neil Gorsuch declared their willingness to hear the case but other conservative-leaning Justices such as Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett did not join the vote putting the case below the threshold necessary for a ruling.

Washington state and the American Civil Liberties Union first sued florist Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington in 2013 for refusing to design flower arrangements for a gay couple’s wedding because of her faith-based objections.

The florist served gay customers Curt Freed and Robert Ingersoll for “nearly 10 years” but when she drew the line at supplying flowers for their wedding ceremony, the Washington attorney general banned Stutzman from “discriminating” against gay couples. The Washington Supreme Court upheld the ban, even after SCOTUS asked the state’s court to keep the landmark Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling into account.

At the state and local level, Christians have been forced to provide homosexual couples with wedding cakes and photography services against their deeply held religious convictions…

The Kleins are not alone in being forced by the government to choose between remaining faithful to their religious views and facing punishment. A baker in Colorado, a florist in Washington and a photographer in New Mexico have all been convicted of violating state antidiscrimination laws for refusing to offer same-sex couples the same services they offer to heterosexual couples.  

The people being prosecuted weren’t denying services to customers because they were homosexual, but out of a religious conviction against participating in a same-sex wedding. The government is outlawing free moral agency in such matters of conscience…

Government control over the content of religious sermons is something usually associated with the Islamic Republic of Iran or the Communist Party of China. Yet state officials in both Iowa and Massachusetts have claimed the power to forbid Christian pastors from expressing biblical views on human sexuality in public…

These questions reveal that the agenda behind these “antidiscrimination” laws isn’t protecting the constitutional rights of homosexuals. The ultimate agenda is to force Christians to accept that homosexuality is natural, normal and healthy…

There is a lot of confusion surrounding the future of religious freedom in America…

Regardless of what political analysts may say, however, Jesus Christ prophesied that in the time just before His return to Earth, His followers would be persecuted for their beliefs.