GAY MARRIAGE - Businesses That Refuse Services

"Why some wedding businesses say ‘I don’t’ to gay couples" PBS NewsHour 1/21/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In Colorado, a baker’s decision to turn a gay couple away rather than make them a wedding cake has sparked a civil rights legal battle.  In fact, as the number of states allowing same-sex marriages increases, so too has the number of business owners refusing to provide wedding services for religious reasons.  Hari Sreenivasan reports.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Colorado baker Jack Phillips estimates he’s made 5,000 wedding cakes since he opened his shop, Masterpiece Cakes, 20 years ago.

JACK PHILLIPS, Owner, Masterpiece Cakeshop:  I just like everything about the baking business.  With a wedding, I get to know the bride, I get to know the groom, if I can, you know, as much of the personalities and things that I can.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  And while his portfolio of wedding cakes is vast, there’s one cake the baker refuses to bake.  Phillips will not make a cake for a same-sex marriage.

JACK PHILLIPS:  It’s a cake that I just don’t do because of my Christian faith.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  A deeply religious man, Jack Phillips says he will bake birthday cakes, cupcakes, and a variety of other sweets for same-sex couples, not just a wedding cake.

JACK PHILLIPS:  I actually feel like I’m taking part in the wedding.  Part of me goes to the reception.  And in this case, that part of me doesn’t want to be represented in a ceremony that I believe is unbiblical.

POLITICS - Finally, the Religious Left

"Religion Taking A Left Turn?" CBS News

Conservative Christians Watch Out: There's A Big Churchgoing Group Seeking Political Power

At a church in Washington, hundreds of committed Christians met recently and tried to map out a strategy to get their values into the political debate.

But these are not the conservative Christian values which have been so influential lately. This is the religious left.

"Jesus called us to love our neighbor, love our enemy, care for the poor, care for the outcast, and that's really the moral core of where we think the nation ought to go," Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches told CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell.

The National Council of Churches represents about 50 million Christians in America — the majority of them mainline Protestants.

"Jesus never said one word about homosexuality, never said one word about civil marriage or abortion," Edgar said.

He calls this movement the "center-left" — and it's seeking the same political muscle as the conservative Christians, a group with a strong power base in the huge Evangelical churches of the South.

But the left has its own Evangelical leaders, such as the Rev. Tony Campolo.

"We are furious that the religious right has made Jesus into a Republican. That's idolatry," Campolo said. "To recreate Jesus in your own image rather than allowing yourself to be created in Jesus' image is what's wrong with politics."

The Christian left is focusing on:

• Fighting poverty
• Protecting the environment
• Ending the war in Iraq

"Right now the war in Iraq costs us $1 billion per week," said Rev. Jim Wallis, a Christian activist. "And we can't get $5 billion over ten years for child care in this country?"

"Nine million families are working full time," Wallis said. "Working hard full time, responsibly, and not making it."

Aha! Take a deep breath of this fresh air!