By now any aware individual that pays the least bit of attention to the news knows about the cases of the photographer in New Mexico, florist in Washington, and baker in Colorado.

If you’ve not heard of these ground-breaking cases it’s time to get your head out from under the rock and start paying attention.

Why are these cases so important? Simply put, they are testing the waters for the trampling of religious freedom in a way not before experienced in the United States. In each of these cases the religious freedom and free speech rights of private business owners were discarded in favor of homosexual rights. Courts in each of these cases told business owners that they can and will be prosecuted if they did not violate their religious convictions.

But if you think these are isolated cases or that they are exceptional you couldn’t be more wrong.

A recent article highlights the case of Liberty Ridge Farms where, Christian owners were not only fined for refusing to host a same-sex ceremony but were ordered to retrain their staff. The article states:

“A New York farm has been fined $13,000 by the state Division of Human Rights for declining to host a same-sex ‘wedding’ on their property two years ago, and has been ordered to train their employees to accommodate homosexual ceremonies despite their Christian beliefs. Administrative Law Judge Migdalia Peres fined Liberty Ridge Farms in Schaghticoke $10,000 and ordered that $1,500 each be paid to two lesbians who were turned down by the facility, which also serves as the owners’ home. Liberty Ridge Farms was also ordered to provide proof that they have trained their employees not to refuse requests from homosexuals.”

Is anyone else deeply disturbed that rthe government is now ordering people to be “re-trained” on what to believe. Perhaps some are waiting for a Nazi Gulag to appear before they get too worried about the situation. But the fact that the government is now ordering people to be trained in a particular social ideology is nothing short of tyranny at work.

To show how serious the situation is look no further than the judge presiding in this case that “fined Liberty Ridge Farms $13,000, citing ‘the goal of deterrence’ for other businesses who might adhere to their convictions and decline to personally accommodate same-sex celebrations.”

Apparently organizations and businesses are not allowed to have morals or convictions unless they support homosexuality and abortion. If those are the “morals” and “convictions” you adhere to then you are welcome in the public sector with your convictions. However, anything less should be deterred.

Jason McGuire, the executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms reminds us that religious freedom accommodations within same-sex “marriage” legislation are, ultimately, worthless:

“When the bill was passed, we were promised that the religious freedom amendment to New York’s same-sex ‘marriage’ legislation would do the job. We were told it would be the strongest in the nation. Our legislators bought the lie and today every New Yorker is living the lie. Town clerks, justices and businesses are impacted by the Empire State’s religious freedom farce. There is no protection in New York law that did not already exist prior to the bill’s passage. But after gay ‘marriage’ was enacted, clerks are out of work and business owners are facing human rights complaints. That’s the reality we are living today.”

That is certainly the reality Victoria Miller, owner of W.W. Bridal Boutique is faced with today.

FRC.org reports:

“At W.W. Bridal Boutique, it isn’t unusual to see two women shopping for wedding dresses. What is unusual is two women shopping for wedding dresses for the same ceremony. That’s the predicament Victoria Miller found herself in as the owner of the Pennsylvania shop. When a lesbian couple contacted the store for an appointment, Victoria explained that she couldn’t help the women find gowns for a ceremony that violates her Christian faith. Right now, an employee explained, the Bloomsburg store doesn’t service same-sex weddings. Instead of showing the tolerance their movement claims to practice, the women turned to social media to bully the shop — trashing its online reviews and sparking a city-wide firestorm.”

Seems more and more the people calling for tolerance are showing the least tolerance to those that disagree. Can we really say this is about tolerance? Or, is this about the “new tolerance”? The actual definition of tolerance is the ability to respect the right of another person to hold a divergent view. In other words, the ability to agree to disagree civilly. Does that sound like the LGBT movement? Not at all. Because this is about the “new tolerance.” The “new tolerance” is more like forced acceptance. And not only will it require forced acceptance it will demand forced celebration.

The problem in all of these cases is that the government is feeling more comfortable demanding that people violate their religious convictions. While LGBT activists cheer these government intrusions they fail to see the dangerous precedent being set that could one day allow the same government to intrude on their rights as well. Regardless of your political leanings it is never appropriate for the government to demand for people to adhere to any convictions, those are personal and protected by our Constitution. The fact that our current government seems no trouble in demanding people adhere to their particular political views should trouble every freedom-loving American.