Fox & Friends knows that God hates fags. And that's why the pals validated Todd Starnes' indignation over a lawsuit against Christian bakers who were being sued for refusing to bake a wedding cake for sinful lesbians. And now that these persecuted Christians have been found guilty of discrimination, Fox & Friends & Todd Starnes still have their back!
Saturday's Fox & Friends segment began with video of Starnes, at a Baptist convention, screaming about how the US is "still one nation under God." The curvy couch Christians shouted "preach, brother." Everyone laughed when Starnes said he "put a little red bull in his fruit loops." Starnes then spoke about the convention which focused on integrating faith with life. He referenced the Indiana religious liberty bill "which was really designed to help people and protect people of faith from being attacked because of their religious beliefs." (Uh, no, it was designed to discriminate against the LGBT community.)
He cited Christian bakers who have been found guilty of discrimination over their refusal to bake a cake for a gay wedding. He reported that these bakers have been fined $135,000 "just because they chose to stick to their religious beliefs." The banner: "The Cost of Faith." He didn't mention that the Christian bakers violated a state non-discrimination law.
The gang continued to gush over Starnes' preaching abilities.
What nobody mentioned is that these bakers were found to be in violation of Oregon law which states that "businesses cannot discriminate or refuse service based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot turn customers away because of race, sex, disability, age or religion." Nobody mentioned that the bakers have a right to appeal the ruling. But as the description of the Fox News video states, "Leftists Target Business That Are Christian." Fox has a message and it's sticking to it.
Note - If you want to hear all of Starnes fire and brimstone sermon, it's here.
First: There is NO Constitutional right to owning a business. None. The Constitution’s sole point regarding business is in Article 1, Section 8 (actually, there are a couple of points here but nothing that says there’s a right to go into business).
Second: The Bible does NOT accept the concept of unfettered capitalism. Jesus, it should be noted, takes umbrage at certain business practices to the point of essentially vandalizing “private property” (the “Cleansing of the Temple” story found in Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19 and John 2). In fact, in John, Jesus says, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.” (John 2:16, KJV) Kind of ironic then that you’ve got allegedly Christian people who would then turn around and attempt to “make an house of merchandise” into Jesus’s “Father’s house.” In point of fact, the whole Bible seems a bit contrary to the whole notion of capitalism as it disallows “usury”(aka, “interest”) and doesn’t really see monetary wealth as being that important. And the New Testament is even less impressed with wealth (Jesus makes a lot of points on this—“Render to Caesar,” “Blessed are the poor,”* the aforementioned Cleansing of the Temple, the “camel through the eye of a needle” thing, the “sell all you have” thing, etc).
For the first part, if you wish to go into business, you MUST abide by state LAWS and regulations. If you don’t want to provide services to potential same-sex wedding couples, then find a state where the law specifically says you can pick and choose your clientele.
As to the second part, if you wish to do business in a “Christian” manner, then fine. Do so. Just remember that your business must abide by all state/federal laws. The Bible says “Thou shalt not steal” but so do state and federal laws governing business. You CANNOT refuse to hire Jews or Muslims or atheists or Blacks or Hispanics or Asians or even gays JUST because your “deeply held religious beliefs” say you’re supposed to avoid other people for whatever reason (that doesn’t mean you can’t make your working conditions so deplorable that only members of your own church would want to work there but you’re probably also not going to attract customers from anywhere but your own church either—it should be noted, though, that certain levels can reach the point of harassment and your “religious beliefs” aren’t going to save you from that lawsuit).
*It should be noted that only Luke uses “poor” in a financial sense (Matthew says “poor of spirit”). Luke only lists four “blesseds” but also four “woes,” the first of which is “woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24, KJV)
