If anyone’s under the influence of the media and questioning President Trump’s results after six months, look no further than the U.S. Supreme Court and Justice Neil Gorsuch. Yesterday, after waiting through a string of Monday court announcements, Americans concerned about the relentless assault on religious freedom finally got the word they’d been waiting for — justices have agreed to hear the case of Christian baker Jack Phillips. For men and women of faith, who’ve been in the fight of their lives for their First Amendment rights since Obergefell, it’s a hopeful sign that the days of persecution against believers like Jack may be numbered.

Like so many Christian businesses, the war on religious freedom came to the Phillips’s front door when two men visited Masterpiece Cakes in 2012 and asked for a same-sex wedding cake. Jack was kind — but firm — in his conviction that he wouldn’t participate in a ceremony that violates his faith. Dave Mullin and Charlie Craig offered a choice gesture and stormed out. Later that day, they turned to social media, launching a campaign to force Phillips into submission. It didn’t work. “We would close down our bakery before we would compromise our beliefs,” Phillips told reporters.

Ironically, business only boomed. People flocked to the Colorado cake shop to show their support. They understood, as we do, that this was never about discriminating against anyone. Like Barronelle Stutzman in Washington State, Jack is happy to serve everyone. “If gays come in and want to order birthday cakes or any cakes for any occasion, graduations, or whatever, I have no prejudice against that whatsoever. It’s just the wedding cake — not the people, not their lifestyle.” All Christians are asking for is the same tolerance that liberals already enjoy. Instead, the Left seems intent on punishing anyone who thinks like 53 percent of Americans on marriage. And in the process, it’s done an incredibly effective job answering its own question — how will my same-sex marriage affect you?

Of course, Masterpiece Cakes isn’t the first bakery liberals have tried to stick a fork in. The clash between religious liberty and same-sex marriages continues to explode in businesses across America, where everyone from family farms and butchers to B&Bs and bakers are trying to come to grips with this brave new world of political correctness. As we warned in 2015, the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling didn’t decide anything. In fact, all it did do was put this court-created right on a collision course with the constitutional right of religious liberty.

“If Jack can’t make wedding cakes,” his attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom pointed out, “he can’t continue to support his family. And in order to make wedding cakes, Jack must violate his belief system. That is a reprehensible choice.” Tragically, it’s a choice more Christians are having to make. Finally, the Supreme Court has a chance to rule that the government has no authority to force Americans like Jack Philips to use their artistic talents to celebrate events they morally oppose. With Justice Gorsuch on the bench, we’re more optimistic than ever that the court will uphold our nation’s long tradition of respecting religious liberty. That wouldn’t just be a victory for Masterpiece Cakes but every Christian suffering under the government’s heavy hand.

Originally published here.

GuideStar Puts It Back in Neutral

It hasn’t been a good two weeks for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) — or its dwindling number of allies. Late Friday, a week after a second politically motivated shooter was linked to SPLC, the organization suffered a huge embarrassment when the leadership of GuideStar pulled its “hate group” banners from its charity index. After users flooded the nonprofit tracker with complaints, CEO Jacob Harold announced that it would take down the labels from the pages of organizations like FRC. Ironically, Harold himself has become an issue since GuideStar has held itself out as politically and culturally neutral at the same time as he’s tweeting photos of himself at the anti-Trump Women’s March.

In a lengthy statement, GuideStar distanced itself from the controversial name-calling, saying, “We acknowledge there is a deep, nuanced conversation to be had with Americans of all political, cultural, and religious backgrounds regarding how we address — and identify — hate groups.” GuideStar explained that it had been overwhelmed by feedback from people (including 41 top conservative leaders), “many of whom have presented reasonable disagreements with the way in which this information was presented. We are always open and willing to have conversations with our users and nonprofit groups and welcomed this feedback… Driven by both our commitment to objectivity and our concerns for our staff’s wellbeing — we have decided to remove the SPLC annotations from these 46 organizations for the time being. This change will be implemented during the week of June 26, 2017. In the meantime, we will make this information available to any user on request.”

It was another major blow to SPLC’s credibility, which continues to suffer, even in the mainstream media. While the losses pile up for the so-called “civil rights” group, GuideStar learned a hard lesson about joining forces with an organization highlighted by the assailants in two cases of domestic terrorism. Harold’s group could have avoided this entire controversy if it had stuck to the objectivity that made it one of the country’s top charity raters in the first place.

Unfortunately, GuideStar wrote in its statement, “A significant amount of the feedback we’ve received in recent days has shifted from constructive criticism to harassment and threats directed at our staff and leadership.” At FRC, we’re dismayed to hear that GuideStar has been on the receiving end of those verbal attacks. We don’t take those threats lightly — we report them to the authorities immediately. I encourage GuideStar to do the same, since we know all too well how dangerous they can be.

It will probably take some time for the credibility of the charity index to rebound. As Breitbart pointed out, “The move to use SPLC’s inaccurate information led to GuideStar’s inaccurate smearing of dozens of mainstream conservative organizations as ‘hate groups’ and sparked fierce criticism from top conservatives. The goal of the Left in taking such action is to continue to build organizations that push their progressive leftist agenda. They want to also destroy organizations that challenge that leftist agenda…” Groups like Harold’s should know better than allowing themselves to become an extension of that extremism. Maybe now, organizations will think twice about teaming up with SPLC, a group so radioactive that even the Obama administration backed away.

Originally published here.

Playground Ruling Stops Slide of Religious Hostility

It was the first major religious liberty case for Neil Gorsuch, and the new justice didn’t disappoint! In a string of positive developments at the Supreme Court, a Missouri church is celebrating a huge victory for its playground. By a 7-2 decision, the court rejected the arguments of people like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who think Christians should be excluded from any job or partnership with the government.

Like a lot of churches in the area, Trinity Lutheran Church (which also houses a daycare and preschool) has an adjacent playground that needed refurbishing. So, the staff applied for a state grant through Missouri’s Scrap Tire Grant Program, which helps reimburse groups for installing rubber safety flooring from recycled tires. In an odd twist, state officials denied Trinity’s request “even though the Missouri Department of Natural Resources ranked its application fifth out of the 44 submitted.” When the church inquired as to why it was turned down, it was told the state constitution barred the “public treasury” from aiding “any church, section, or denomination of religion.” That hardly seemed fair to the congregation, whose children need just as much outdoor padding as others.

The Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the government “should treat children’s safety at religious schools the same as it does at nonreligious schools.” As the majority wrote, “The express discrimination against religious exercise here is not the denial of a grant, but rather the refusal to allow the Church — solely because it is a church — to compete with secular organizations for a grant… In this case, there is no dispute that Trinity Lutheran is put to the choice between being a church and receiving a government benefit. The rule is simple: No churches need apply.”

A religious test shouldn’t be used for public service, and it shouldn’t be used for public funding either! FRC’s Travis Weber congratulated our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom for the win and looked forward to continuing the court’s recent trend of protecting religious liberty.

“Certainly the Framers never meant to exclude churches from public life in the way the state of Missouri and lower courts have here. With the recent addition of Justice Gorsuch, we are much more optimistic about the future of religious freedom in America. The Supreme Court rightly found that the freedom of religion, including that of Trinity Lutheran, is clearly protected by the Constitution. Justice Gorsuch’s presence will re-enforce a welcome originalist voice in not just the Trinity Lutheran case but also plenty of pivotal cases in the decades to come.”

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.