Bryan Fischer
Christophobic Gestapo strikes again - - over cupcakes!
By Bryan Fischer
David Stockton and his business are about to get thrown out on the street by Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard because Stockton is a Christian who believes what the Bible teaches about human sexuality.
Stockton, owner of Just Cookies, was approached by a local homosexual activist group to make a batch of cupcakes with rainbow frosting to help it celebrate "National Coming Out Day," in which people who engage in sexually deviant conduct announce it proudly to the whole world. The "love that dare not speak its name" has now become the "love that shoves it in everybody's face."
Mr. Stockton politely declined, since supporting sexually aberrant behavior is not a part of his business plan. He has two young daughters, and he is committed as a father to teaching them the difference between right and wrong. Heterosexual marriage: right. Two men using the anal cavity for sex: wrong. This is not rocket surgery.
For taking a simple, quiet, unobtrusive stand for "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," to use the quaint but timeless declaration of the Founders, Mr. Stockton's livelihood is now under assault by the Tolerance Nazis in Indianapolis.
The leader of the Brownshirts in this case is mayor Greg Ballard, who apparently is bereft of moral values himself and has forgotten that businesses, including those who lease space from the city in its City Market as Just Cookies does, have the right to refuse service to anyone. It's right in the window at lots of places.
Plus, Just Cookies does not in fact deny service to homosexuals. One comes in, wants to buy a cookie, no problem. Just Cookies does not screen customers based on sexual preference. But when a homosexual group wants to use his product to publicly promote self-destructive sexual behavior, Mr. Stockton has every right to ask them to take their business elsewhere. Which, by the way, the homosexuals did, getting their pastries from The Flying Cupcake. (I could say something about "flying cupcakes" for "flaming cupcakes," but I won't.)
At any rate, Mayor Ballard is threatening to kick Just Cookies to the curb and throw them out of the property they lease. According to a piece in IndyStar.com, the city is making these threatening noises because of "the obligation of the city to do to all it can to...encourage tolerance."
Hilariously, two paragraphs later a representative of the city is quoted as saying, of Just Cookies,
"We can't tolerate any kind of discrimination like that." Ah, I get it, we're going to show everybody how tolerant we are be being flatly and viciously intolerant toward people of moral conviction.
The mayor's deputy chief of staff, Robert Vane, compounded this egregious and Torquemada-like intolerance by saying that the city just cannot abide "a business based on an exclusionary business model." That, he said, is "simply unacceptable." Ah, I see, we are going to punish those with an "exclusionary business model" by adopting an "exclusionary business model" of our own. Character-driven business owners need not apply. We're going to exclude you right out in the name of tolerance. There is a staggering level of self-contradiction and moral hypocrisy here.
The good news is that business has actually been up at Just Cookies since the outbreak of this government-endorsed Christophobia, as pro-family supporters have developed a sudden desire to satisfy their sweet tooth. And a top-drawer First Amendment law firm is offering its services pro bono to the Stocktons if they stand firm. I'd love to see them sue the pants off the city for its unpatriotic stand against classic American ideals.
The city, in fact, is violating its own precious anti-discrimination policy. First, by executive fiat it is trying to apply it to private businesses when it applies only to the city itself and its personnel policies.
And second, the city's policy flatly prohibits discrimination based on religion. But this is precisely what the city is doing — discriminating, punishing, and intimidating the Stocktons solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. In other words, the city is in the process of committing a hate crime here.
It's time to stand with the Stocktons and say "No" to hate, "No" to hate crimes, "No" to heterophobia, and "No" to Christophobia. If you'd like to encourage Mayor Greg Ballard to stand for tolerance and religious liberty instead of repression and tyranny, you may give him a piece of your mind you can afford to lose by calling him at (317) 327-3601. Be prepared to be patient. A lot of your like-minded compatriots are calling him too.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
October 1, 2010
David Stockton and his business are about to get thrown out on the street by Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard because Stockton is a Christian who believes what the Bible teaches about human sexuality.
Stockton, owner of Just Cookies, was approached by a local homosexual activist group to make a batch of cupcakes with rainbow frosting to help it celebrate "National Coming Out Day," in which people who engage in sexually deviant conduct announce it proudly to the whole world. The "love that dare not speak its name" has now become the "love that shoves it in everybody's face."
Mr. Stockton politely declined, since supporting sexually aberrant behavior is not a part of his business plan. He has two young daughters, and he is committed as a father to teaching them the difference between right and wrong. Heterosexual marriage: right. Two men using the anal cavity for sex: wrong. This is not rocket surgery.
For taking a simple, quiet, unobtrusive stand for "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," to use the quaint but timeless declaration of the Founders, Mr. Stockton's livelihood is now under assault by the Tolerance Nazis in Indianapolis.
The leader of the Brownshirts in this case is mayor Greg Ballard, who apparently is bereft of moral values himself and has forgotten that businesses, including those who lease space from the city in its City Market as Just Cookies does, have the right to refuse service to anyone. It's right in the window at lots of places.
Plus, Just Cookies does not in fact deny service to homosexuals. One comes in, wants to buy a cookie, no problem. Just Cookies does not screen customers based on sexual preference. But when a homosexual group wants to use his product to publicly promote self-destructive sexual behavior, Mr. Stockton has every right to ask them to take their business elsewhere. Which, by the way, the homosexuals did, getting their pastries from The Flying Cupcake. (I could say something about "flying cupcakes" for "flaming cupcakes," but I won't.)
At any rate, Mayor Ballard is threatening to kick Just Cookies to the curb and throw them out of the property they lease. According to a piece in IndyStar.com, the city is making these threatening noises because of "the obligation of the city to do to all it can to...encourage tolerance."
Hilariously, two paragraphs later a representative of the city is quoted as saying, of Just Cookies,
"We can't tolerate any kind of discrimination like that." Ah, I get it, we're going to show everybody how tolerant we are be being flatly and viciously intolerant toward people of moral conviction.
The mayor's deputy chief of staff, Robert Vane, compounded this egregious and Torquemada-like intolerance by saying that the city just cannot abide "a business based on an exclusionary business model." That, he said, is "simply unacceptable." Ah, I see, we are going to punish those with an "exclusionary business model" by adopting an "exclusionary business model" of our own. Character-driven business owners need not apply. We're going to exclude you right out in the name of tolerance. There is a staggering level of self-contradiction and moral hypocrisy here.
The good news is that business has actually been up at Just Cookies since the outbreak of this government-endorsed Christophobia, as pro-family supporters have developed a sudden desire to satisfy their sweet tooth. And a top-drawer First Amendment law firm is offering its services pro bono to the Stocktons if they stand firm. I'd love to see them sue the pants off the city for its unpatriotic stand against classic American ideals.
The city, in fact, is violating its own precious anti-discrimination policy. First, by executive fiat it is trying to apply it to private businesses when it applies only to the city itself and its personnel policies.
And second, the city's policy flatly prohibits discrimination based on religion. But this is precisely what the city is doing — discriminating, punishing, and intimidating the Stocktons solely on the basis of their religious beliefs. In other words, the city is in the process of committing a hate crime here.
It's time to stand with the Stocktons and say "No" to hate, "No" to hate crimes, "No" to heterophobia, and "No" to Christophobia. If you'd like to encourage Mayor Greg Ballard to stand for tolerance and religious liberty instead of repression and tyranny, you may give him a piece of your mind you can afford to lose by calling him at (317) 327-3601. Be prepared to be patient. A lot of your like-minded compatriots are calling him too.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
