The Atlantic

When Beliefs and Identities Clash in Court

The Supreme Court may not be the right place to settle the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which pits marriage equality against religious freedom.
Source: Yuri Gripas/ Reuters

The United States government filed a “friend of the court” brief last week in the pending case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission—the “religious bakery” case.

I’m not indifferent to the stakes of the case. Since 1987, when I read the late Randy Shilts’s brilliant book, And the Band Played On, I’ve been committed—intellectually and emotionally—to same-sex marriage. But extremist though I am, I find Masterpiece Cakeshop a hard case.

The issue is whether a state that has chosen by statute to forbid anti-gay discrimination in public businesses may apply that law to a bakeshop that holds itself out to customers as a source of custom cakes. The baker is Jack Phillips; he is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian religious-freedom organization. ADF’s petition introduces Phillips thus: “His faith teaches him to serve and love everyone and he does. It also compels him to use his artistic talents to promote only messages that align with his religious beliefs.” In its brief,

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was
The Atlantic3 min readDiscrimination & Race Relations
The Legacy of Charles V. Hamilton and Black Power
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present and surface delightful treasures. Sign up here. This week, The New York Times published news of the death of Charles V. Hamilton, the
The Atlantic6 min read
The Happy Way to Drop Your Grievances
Want to stay current with Arthur’s writing? Sign up to get an email every time a new column comes out. In 15th-century Germany, there was an expression for a chronic complainer: Greiner, Zanner, which can be translated as “whiner-grumbler.” It was no

Related