Satanic Temple Holds Protest On Arkansas Capitol Steps
August 17, 2018 | Posted in Current Events | By Jerry Cox
In what can best be described as a circus, the Satanic Temple held a protest rally on the steps of the Arkansas Capitol Building yesterday.
The Satanic Temple held the event to protest Arkansas’ monument of the Ten Commandments unveiled earlier this year; the monument celebrates the impact and legacy of the Ten Commandments in American law.
In protest, the group parked a flatbed trailer holding a 7½-foot statue of baphomet — a satanic figure — in front of the Capitol Building. Protesters cheered and shouted expletives as the statue was unveiled.
The group had originally threatened to put the monument on the Capitol grounds, but nothing ever came of the threat, because monuments require legislative approval.
Altogether, we estimate there were somewhere around 100 participants in the satanic rally. An additional 100 – 200 people were also present on the Capitol lawn as part of various counter-protests or as onlookers.
Frankly, there just shouldn’t be anything controversial about honoring the significance of the Ten Commandments.
As we’ve said many times, the Ten Commandments are one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have had a tremendous impact on western civilization. The Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are amazing documents, but the Ten Commandments are the great-great-granddaddy of them all.
Video: Schools Can’t Stop Students From Praying
August 16, 2018 | Posted in Religious Freedom, Video | By Jerry Cox
State Commissioner of Education Reminds Public Schools They Can’t Block Student Prayer.
CO Goes After Baker Jack Phillips Once Again
August 15, 2018 | Posted in Religious Freedom | By Jerry Cox
In June, Colorado baker Jack Phillips of the Masterpiece Cakeshop won a landmark victory when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Jack could not be forced to violate his deeply held religious convictions.
In 2012 Jack Phillips declined a request to bake a custom cake for a same-sex ceremony. Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission targeted Masterpiece Cakeshop under the state’s anti-discrimination law. After six years of litigation and court hearings, Jack finally won his case this summer.
In its ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court chastised Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission for its obvious hostility toward Jack Phillips.
The story should have ended with a Supreme Court victory for Masterpiece Cakeshop. Instead, the Civil Rights Commission is after Jack Phillips again — this time for declining to bake a cake for a gender-transition celebration.
Our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview write,
About a year ago, a caller to Jack’s store asked Jack to bake a cake celebrating a gender transition. To be blunt, it was an obvious set-up.
For starters, the request came in hours after it was reported that the Supreme Court would hear Jack’s case. Jack’s wife, who answered the phone, was asked for a cake with blue on the outside and pink on the inside, to represent the caller’s transition from male to female. When Mrs. Phillips politely told the caller that her husband didn’t make custom cakes for that kind of event, she was asked to repeat herself so that someone else could hear.
The “charging party” called again and this time an employee answered the phone and politely explained the shop’s policy. After berating her about the policy, the “charging party” hung up.
At no time did anyone in the Phillips family ask the caller about any personal characteristics, such as sex or gender identity. The only thing they knew about the caller was the request itself.
But that didn’t matter. About a month later Phillips received a copy of a complaint charging him with discriminating on the basis of gender identity.
Attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom are once again standing beside Jack Phillips, writing,
Enough is enough. Alliance Defending Freedom is “going on offense” and suing the state of Colorado on Jack’s behalf for its blatant targeting of him.
You would think that a clear Supreme Court decision against their first effort would give them pause. But it seems like some in the state government are hell-bent on punishing Jack for living according to his faith.
If that isn’t hostility, what is?
Photo Credit: Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/Newscom
