Imagine for a moment that you own a business in your community. For years you proudly serve the people of your community. Regardless of who they are, you serve each person with respect and excellence. Your business grows and you gain a reputation for being a great local business that treats everyone with respect and has great service.

As the years pass by you get to know people that are regular customers of your business. Despite having different views on many weighty issues, you continue to serve each person with genuine respect. After all, part of being a business open to the public means serving people you disagree with. So you happily, and proudly serve people from all walks of life.

The, one day, one of your customers, someone that you have served more than once, asks you to take part in her wedding. She would like you to create a work of art to help celebrate her wedding. You respectfully decline to take part in her wedding. Since this is someone you’ve served on more than one occasion she will surely understand that you can’t take part in her wedding because it would violate your deeply held religious convictions.

The next thing you know, you are being sued by the client and the state for…to your surprise, discrimination. How can you be sued for discrimination when you happily served every person that walked through your front door? Can the state really force you to violate your convictions? Do you have to choose between your convictions and your business?

These are all questions coming out of the case against Aaron and Melissa Klein, the Christian bakers being sued for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony.

The Klein’s never declined to serve anyone that walked through their door. Regardless of whom they were, or what they believed, the Klein’s showed everyone respect and served each person with dignity. But when the Klein’s honored their religious convictions and refused to compromise their beliefs, they were attacked as bigots, and called discriminatory.

In the video below, Aaron Klein reiterates what a lot of American feels right now, that it’s hard to find truth in the media. The media has once again proven this to be true in their false characterization of the Klein’s. These are not people that hate gays and lesbians, they are not bigots, and they don’t openly discriminate. They simply ask for others to respect their religious beliefs.

The Klein’s lawyer, Hiram Sasser, explained that the Klein’s are simply seeking to live out their faith in their business:

“Yeah what’s unfortunate about this is that we have people of good will on all sides, and we live in a pluralistic society, we gotta try to figure out how to get along. And what we’re simply fighting for is tolerance and respect and the dignity of all people to be able to carry out their lives in the way that they see fit.”

This is a concern for all people. If the government can force Christians to violate their religious convictions, who else can be forced to violate their deeply held beliefs?

Can an African-American baker be forced to bake a cake for the KKK?

Can a Jewish photographer be forced to photograph a communist or Nazi event?

Can a Muslim deli owner be forced to serve bacon?

Can a homosexual baker be forced to bake a cake celebrating heterosexual marriage?

Once a single group is stripped of their rights to live and do business according to their beliefs, it will not be long before other groups start to see their rights taken away.

If you would like to help, you can donate to the Klein’s to help with the $135,ooo fine levied against them. This site continues to raise money for their living expenses and legal fees now that the Klein’s have had to close their business. According to the site, more than 9,000 people have donated to date, and, if my math is correct, more than $400,000 has been raised so far.

Watch this short video interview with the Klein’s to learn more about what they are facing. Be prepared to face consequences if you are determined to live out your faith in the public square. Don’t be apathetic or silent in this battle to defend religious freedom.

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