Is a Church Being Forced to Perform a Gay Wedding?

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-peron/is-a-church-being-forced_b_6019354.html

James Peron
President, Moorfield Storey Institute

Posted: 10/21/2014 3:25 am EDT Updated: 25 minutes ago

I suspect there is a lot of misinformation about the so-called Hitching Post Wedding Chapel case. Here is how fundamentalist anti-gay crusaders at "Alliance Defending (sic) Freedom" present things:

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit and a motion for a temporary restraining order Friday to stop officials in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, from forcing two ordained Christian ministers to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. ...
"The government should not force ordained ministers to act contrary to their faith under threat of jail time and criminal fines," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco."

Of course, ADF is notoriously unreliable when it comes to stating the facts, and will twist facts until they barely resemble their old selves.

The couple who own the Wedding Chapel are ordained, but running a business, not a church. Nor are they pastors, since they don't have a church, as ADF claimed. A church can discriminate -- and they do so all the time, even when it comes to weddings. The Knapps, however, present the Hitching Post as a business, open to the public, and not as a ministry or religious establishment.

ADF legal filings, however, play up the "ministry" claims. Instead of admitting this is business with no significant religious requirements, ADF refers to this business as a "religious mission." In addition, the falsely claim that the Knapps "have ensured that mission is respected by barring anyone but themselves and their employees from performing wedding ceremonies at, or on behalf of, the Hitching Post."

more at link

[Arkansas Granny]

1. The chapel is a business and shouldn't be allowed to discriminate.

Let them go sit in the corner and cry with the lady who didn't want to make the "gay" wedding cakes.

[cbayer]

2. That is exactly right. They are not a church, they are a business.

If they want to discriminate then they will have to face the consequences, which were pretty steep for the cake lady.

[pinto]

3. "anyone but themselves and their employees..."

= business.

[JDDavis]

4. New Civil Rights Movement has this to say today:

"Almost Everything You've Been Told About The Idaho Wedding Chapel Story Is A Lie"

Meanwhile, the religious right and the far right media have gone to town on this story over the past few days, and the lies they're telling are atrocious.

A story Monday at the right-wing American News is titled: "City Arrests Pastors For Refusing To Perform Gay Weddings."

That's a lie.

A story at what appears to be Herman Cain's website, is titled, "Idaho city tells pastors: Celebrate gay weddings or face fines, jail time."

That's a stretch.

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/how_many_lies_is_the_religious_right_willing_to_tell_in_the_idaho_for_profit_wedding_chapel_story

Christians lying? I'm shocked.

[cbayer]

5. There are liars in all religious group and among the non-religious.

Particularly among those in the media, which is who told the lie in this case.