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So the Ashers of Northern Ireland were successful in their appeal to the Supreme Court with a unanimous verdict given by the 5 Judges. At one level it was surely a victory for common sense. If a baker can be forced to advertise a viewpoint with which he doesn't agree then the situation could quickly become ridiculous. A Muslim baker could be required to promote Bible verses or a Vegan baker could be expected to advertise the virtues of eating steak via the cake. Obviously examples could be multiplied endlessly.
One thing is for sure that no-one will have changed their mind because of the verdict. And right now plenty of people are expressing their hopes or fears as a result of this judgement. I stand with those who believe this actually helps everyone to enjoy the entitlement to free speech whereas on the other side there are fears expressed (wrongly in my opinion) as to what this might mean for gay rights.
I contribute just two comments:
The first is that the Christian worldview means that we can totally disagree with other viewpoints but believe absolutely that people are free to express them. I don't agree with gay marriage for the simple reason that I don't believe it is a marriage when it involves two people of the same sex. I have a right to express that and presumably, now, not be forced to say the opposite on a cake of my baking. Someone else has the right to say they do believe in gay marriage and to emblazon it on every cake they ever bake if they want to. Fair enough, but what I won't do is ask them to put my objection to gay marriage on a cake that they bake for me or if I did ask, and they refused, then I would accept it as their right and look for another baker. As Pastor Paul Reid tweeted in response to someone who said that the Ashers should just have baked the cake and only 12 people would have seen it; but that's not the point, it's about integrity and authenticity even if no-one sees it. I'll tell you my viewpoint but I won't force it on you, I expect you to do the same.
The second is that no-one should expect to have everything they want all the time. As a Christian there are so many things I would like to happen. For example that the media would give the Christian viewpoint much more time, report with much more accuracy and show much more of what Christians are doing to help society. The recent TV program on CAP was one rare occasion when this did happen. But Christians can't have all they want all the time. With the gay rights lobby it's hard not to think that they want more than equality, which is the claim, but really they want dominance and preference. Is it really necessary to take a business to Court because they won't put your message on a cake? Yes I suppose so, if you want to have everything you want all the time. But life isn't like that, sometimes, often even, you don't get what you want. In other words we all have to face up to the reality that you can't have your cake and eat it.