Financial Help for Persecuted Christian Bakery

Brad Avakian

About $450,000 has been given to help the owners of the Oregon bakery Sweet Cakes who are being persecuted for their Christian faith by lesbians and the state government. After Melissa and Aaron Klein refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, they were found guilty of “violated the civil rights of a same-sex couple” (“Oregon Rules Bakery Violated Couple’s Civil Rights,” CBS Seattle, Jan. 21, 2014). Under the Oregon Equality Act of 2007, citizens may not be denied service “based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” In July, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI) ordered the Kleins to pay $135,000 in damages to the lesbians for “emotional suffering.” The ruling states that citizens should have “the ability to enter public places, to shop and dine, to move about unfettered by BIGOTRY,” thus labeling the Kleins’ Christian faith bigotry. The Kleins are appealing the ruling. In the meantime, a flood of help has been given through the crowd funding organization Continue to Give and through Samaritan’s Purse. The Kleins have stood their ground in spite of an outpouring of filthy remarks and death threats by homosexuals. Of BOLI Commissioner Brad Avakian, Aaron Klein said, “This man has no power over me. He seems to think he can tell me to be quiet. That doesn’t sit well with me and I refuse to comply.” Mr. Klein accused the BOLI of ordering him not to speak publicly about the case--an order he said is unconstitutional. “When my constitutional freedoms have been violated by the state I’m going to speak out” (“Christian bakers fined $135,000,” Fox News, July 3, 2015).

(Friday Church News Notes, July 24, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

---