The owners of a Belfast bakery who were ordered to pay a fine of $750 for “injury to feelings” after they refused to promote homosexuality on their product will appeal.
In an announcement Thursday, the Christian Institute, which has represented the McArthur family that owns Ashers Baking Co., confirmed that after after “much careful and prayerful consideration given to legal advice, we have decided to appeal the judgment handed down last Tuesday.”
“We continue to insist that we have done nothing wrong as we have discriminated against no individual but rather acted according to what the Bible teaches regarding marriage,” the statement said.
“As many other people have already noted, Christian beliefs seem to have been trampled over in this judgment and we believe this only has negative effects for our society,” the family said. “Our hope and prayer would be that an appeal will allow us and other Christians to live out their faith in Jesus Christ in every part of their lives, including their workplace.”
It was a county court in Belfast that ordered Ashers to pay 500 British pounds, about $750, for “injury to feelings.” The ruling came after Judge Isobel Brownlie claimed the bakery breached sexual orientation protection laws in its treatment of a customer.
The owners have said the sexual orientation of the customer was irrelevant, and, in fact, unknown. They argue they should not be forced to promote a message with which they disagree.
It happened in May 2014 when a homosexual activist wanted a cake featuring “Sesame Street” characters and the message “Support Gay Marriage.”
The owners, Colin and Karen McArthur, declined, based on the message, which violated their Christian beliefs.
Simon Calvert of the institute, said: “I believe that most people think that this is a ruling that should be overturned. There has been such extraordinary support from people from all walks of life who are appalled by what has happened to the McArthur family.”
The institute pointed out that a leading human rights expert, Aidan O’Neill, “has already spelled out what is possible as a result of the judge ruling against Ashers.”
“Muslim printers could be sued for refusing to print cartoons of Mohammad, and a Christian film company could be sued for refusing to produce a pornographic film.”
WND reported some U.K. papers warned the decision threatens religious and speech rights.
Wrote the Belfast Telegraph: “The state demands that all bakers in the land must be in favor of same-sex marriage. Or at least they must be willing, if requested, to pipe out their support for it in pink icing on the top of a cake.
“Butchers and candlestick-makers, regardless of their religious opinions, will also be forced to comply, or face prosecution, or give up their businesses entirely,” the commentary said. “By the same legislative logic, a Muslim printer could be compelled to produce Hebdo-style cartoon images of the prophet Muhammad. The lesbian owner of a clothing company could be forced to make T-shirts saying gay people will burn in Hell.
“When will this warped totalitarian fairy tale end?”
Meanwhile, in the United States, Christians already are being punished and fined for their adherence to the biblical standard for marriage, as WND’s Big List of Christian Coercion shows.
The list details dozens of cases in which bakers, florists and photographers have been fined, censured, threatened and intimidated by various branches of government for their refusal to endorse and support homosexuality.
The issue will come to a head this summer with the expected ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on marriage. Same-sex marriage already has been imposed on nearly three dozen states where voters rejected it.
Ashers General Manager Daniel McArthur, whose parents are the bakery owners, said: “We’ve said from the start that our issue was with the message on the cake, not the customer and we didn’t know what the sexual orientation of Mr. Lee was, and it wasn’t relevant either. We’ve always been happy to serve any customers that come into our shops.
“The ruling suggests that all business owners will have to be willing to promote any cause or campaign no matter how much they disagree with it. Or as the Equality Commission has suggested, they should perhaps just close down, and that can’t be right.”
The London Telegraph said, “Either a higher court needs to look at this again or parliament should revisit the law.”
The commentary continued: “Why should they also be required to make a statement they do not agree with? Indeed, should freedom of conscience always be trumped by anti-discrimination rights?”
“This case raises profound and worrying questions about the balance between gay and religious rights,” said The London Daily Mail. “Indeed, it highlights the argument for a conscience clause, protecting believers from being forced to go against the teachings of their faith.”
The paper said the “most disturbing question is why the province’s taxpayer-funded Equality Commission chose to pursue this spiteful prosecution, in a case that could so easily have been allowed to blow over with minimum offense to anyone’s feelings.”
The London Express said: “Surely the indignant gay couple could have respected the bakery’s stance and gone somewhere else for their gay gateau and no harm would have been done. … Since when is it a crime for a private company to turn down work? Since now apparently.”
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