Why is one baker allowed to discriminate but another is not? That’s the question being asked after two separate – but related incidents involving cake and convictions.

In one incident Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, declined to bake a cake for a gay wedding because he said doing so would violate his religious convictions. Phillips sees his business as an extension of his faith, which means participating in a gay wedding by creating a work of art would violate that faith.

Unfortunately, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission disagreed with Phillips and charged him with discrimination under Colorado’s Human Rights Act. He was found guilty and threatened with fines and imprisonment if he continued such practices at his bakery.

In fact, Phillips was ordered to go “reeducation” along with his entire staff and will be monitored to ensure such an incident doesn’t happen again. Does this sound like America – the home of the free – or more like a communist country?

In light of this disturbing account, Bill Jack, just a guy wanting to make a point, asked three different bakeries to make him two separate cakes. Todd Starnes explains the cakes Jack wanted:

“Jack, who is a devout Christian, asked three bakeries to produce two cakes – each shaped like an open Bible. On one side of one cake he requested the words, ‘God hates sin – Psalm 45:7.’ On the other side he wanted the words, ‘Homosexuality is a detestable sin – Leviticus 18:22.’ On the second cake he asked them to write another Bible verse: ‘While we were yet sinners Christ died for us – Romans 5:8’ along with the words ‘God loves sinners.’ And finally, Jack wanted the bakers to create an image – two grooms holding hands, with a red ‘X’ over them – the universal symbol for ‘not allowed.’”

The message Jack wanted on his cakes are nothing less than the message shared in most churches each and every Sunday: God hates sin. God loves sinners. Jesus died for sinners. Oh, and by the way, homosexuality is a sin – like adultery, lust, murder, pre-marital sex, drunkenness, and abortion.

But Jack’s point was to see if Colorado would apply the law consistently and evenly to all people. If a Christian baker could be forced to bake a cake that violates his religious convictions, could other bakers be forced to bake cakes that they were opposed to?

The answer?

Apparently not.

When each baker refused to bake the cake, Jack file the very same complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission that was filed against Jack Phillips. But this time the Commission sided with the bakers in refusing to bake the cakes and said there was no violation of civil rights. How in the world this cannot be seen as anything less than a hypocritical double standard is beyond common sense. And yet, here we are.

Again, Todd Starnes commented on this incident:

“Alliance Defending Freedom is a religious liberty law firm that represents the Masterpiece Cakeshop. It believes the Civil Rights Commission reached the right conclusion in Jack’s case, but it blasted the commission’s inconsistencies when it came to the case involving its client. ‘The commission’s inconsistent rulings mean that the owners of these three cake shops may run them according to their beliefs, while Jack cannot,’ ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco said. ‘These cake artists should not be forced to violate their conscience, but clearly the commission should have done the same for Jack Phillips,’ he said. ‘He risks losing his lifelong business altogether if he continues to run it consistent with his faith. Such blatant religious discrimination has no place in our society.’”

So where does this end?

Will we see the day when a Muslim baker is forced to bake a cake for a Jewish wedding? How about a Jewish baker being forced to bake a cake for a Nazi event? Will an atheist baker be forced to bake a cake for a Christian event?

The truth here is simple, yet seemingly too profound for some to grasp; if one person’s freedom can be violated, everyone’s freedom will be violated. If one person is not allowed to live and do business according to his religious convictions then we can be sure no one is safe. The very people fighting for their “rights” – LGBT peoples – cannot see that they are being used to systematically strip freedom from everyone.

Let me be clear, I support the right of these bakers to refuse to make the religious-themed cakes for Bill Jack. I believe that if baking these cakes would violate their beliefs and conscience then they should not have to bake them. So does Bill Jack. But I also believe that Jack Phillips has the right to decline to bake a cake for a gay wedding if doing so would violate his religious convictions. That seems to be the problem.

The double standard is now obvious. Liberals can’t hide or pretend that a double standard doesn’t exist. Their intent to punish Christians for their religious convictions is now out in the open and it needs to be taken seriously. We are on a crash course with persecution for religious faith.