CCU Celebrates Religious Freedom and Supreme Court Victory
We are grateful for today's Supreme Court decision in upholding the religious freedom and freedom of conscience for our friend Jack Phillips, and in recognizing the overreach of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
This is an enormous milestone victory for religious freedom and the First Amendment. Religious freedom is our first freedom, and freedom of conscience is the foundation of all freedoms. We are grateful that the court upheld these today.
As Jack Phillips has said many times, his action were not prompted by hatred of any customer. He regularly serves all who walk in his doors. But to force him to engage in messaging that went against his own religious convictions was a violation of his conscience and of religious liberties enshrined in the First Amendment.
Jack opened Masterpiece Cakeshop 24 years ago to serve his community, share his artistic talents, and honor God through his everyday work. He named his business after Ephesians 2:10 which says, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."
It should be noted that this was not a narrow 5-4 ruling. It was a 7-2 ruling, where a large majority of the court recognized the Colorado's Civil Right's Commission's animus and violation of the free exercise clause, while at the same time affirmed the importance of tolerance.
We are grateful for the privilege of standing by Jack and his family as they awaited this ruling - with a rally in support of him at CCU, with prayers, and with a large prayer conference call the day of his hearing. We are also grateful for our Colorado State government, for the U.S. Supreme Court, and for the immense freedoms we enjoy as a nation: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, of the press, of the right to assemble peacefully, and freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
As a nation, it is important that we continue to understand and cherish our constitution and its amendments, that we teach the next generation of their importance, and that as a society we learn to respectfully live together with our deepest differences.
Yours in His service,
Dr. Donald W. Sweeting
President