Will Catholics be forced 'to sculpt totems for Wiccan rituals'?

Aaron and Melissa Klein were fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.

In a new court filing, advocates for a Christian couple who lost their bakery and $135,000 in a state-ordered crackdown on their faith say government simply cannot force people to promote ideas that violate their beliefs.

"The constitutions' [state and federal] Speech Clauses generally prohibit compulsion of pure speech. Because art is pure speech, [an Oregon agency] tries to argue custom-designed wedding cakes are not art," says the filing from First Liberty Institute.

"Precedent says otherwise."

Further, it explains, "The Kleins created custom-designed wedding cakes (art). That is what complainants wanted. That is what [the state agency] punished the Kleins for not creating.

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"That is unconstitutional."

The case involves Aaron and Melissa Klein, who operated Sweetcakes by Melissa before they lost their bakery because of the attacks on their faith by the state of Oregon.

The case was prompted by the Kleins' decision in 2013 not to make a cake for a lesbian duo. The couple had sold products to the women before and said they would again but declined to provide the cake because its message violated their religious beliefs.

Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries responded with a lengthy and wide-ranging attack on the couple, ordering them to pay the $135,000 penalty and not to say "certain things about their religious faith."

Officials overseeing the case even stated publicly that people with such beliefs need to be "rehabilitated," according to court records.

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., has written "Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left has Sabotaged Family and Marriage," to explain the influence of "extreme-left radicals" on the American family.

The Kleins eventually closed their bakery.

They then appealed to the Oregon Court of Appeals, arguing the state violated their constitutional rights to religious freedom, free speech and due process.

They told the Court of Appeals for the state of Oregon that Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian decided the Kleins were guilty before he even heard their case.

"He stated that the Kleins had 'disobey[ed]' Oregon law and needed to be 'rehabilitate[d].' By failing to recuse himself from the case, while harboring a bias against the Kleins, Commissioner Avakian deprived the Kleins of their right to due process with a fair hearing," the appeal said.

Now the couple filed a reply brief in their case.

In the brief, the Institute lawyers challenge the Bureau of Labor and Industries' argument that the government can compel citizens to create art and engage in speech that goes against their beliefs. They explain if the court allows the final order against the Kleins to stand, the court will be putting a stamp of approval on the idea that the government can force artists to celebrate causes that violate their conscience.

"Should the government force Catholics to sculpt totems for Wiccan rituals, or feminists to photograph fraternity initiations, or pro-life videographers to film an abortion? Of course not," Kelly Shackelford, president First Liberty Institute, said. "No one should be forced to contribute to the celebration of an idea that goes against his or her beliefs."

"The First Amendment prohibits government compulsion of art and of speech," Boyden Gray, former ambassador to the European Union and founding partner of Boyden Gray and Associates, says. "We must ensure that freedom of speech and religious expression is preserved for all Americans."

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., has written "Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left has Sabotaged Family and Marriage," to explain the influence of "extreme-left radicals" on the American family.

The filing explains, "This case is, first and foremost, about whether Oregon has commandeered individuals' liberty to compel them – upon pain of crippling financial penalties – to facilitate the multitude of events in which 'persons' protected by [state law] might participate. Such events might be weddings as here, or religious rituals, sex-segregated club initiations, or abortions.

"The court must determine; Has Oregon, for example, compelled Catholic to sculpt totems for Wiccan rituals? Feminists to photograph fraternity initiations? Pro-life filmmakers to video abortions.

"It has not, and that ends the case."

The filing explains the state labor board made mistakes at virtually every step of the process.

"[The state] says it can compel people to create wedding cakes because they do not convey particularized message to reasonable observers. That is contrary to precedent, the record and common sense. Wedding cakes' inherent purpose – as [the state's] own expert witness testified – is expression."

It continued, "The uncontested record establishes that BOLI punished the Kleins for declining to sell what their business created and what complainants wanted – a custom-designed wedding cake."

The state penalties for the Kleins moved into uncharted waters, the brief explains, "and there is good reason those waters are – and should remain – uncharted: They are set off-limits by the state and federal constitutions."

See the Big List of Christian Coercion compiled by WND, where officials, business owners and others have been bludgeoned by the law, activists – even judges – for their faith.

WND previously reported that Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham, who also is CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called the ruling against the Kleins a travesty for the First Amendment.

Graham reacted on his Facebook page to the Oregon ruling against the Kleins.

He wrote: "This is unbelievable! ... Brad Avakian, Oregon’s Bureau of Labor & Industries Commissioner, upheld [the previous] ruling that the Kleins have to pay the lesbian couple $135,000 for a long list of alleged damages including: 'acute loss of confidence,' 'high blood pressure,' 'impaired digestion,' 'loss of appetite,' 'migraine headaches,' 'pale and sick at home after work,' 'resumption of smoking habit,' 'weight gain,' and 'worry.' Give me a break. In my opinion, this couple should pay the Kleins $135,000 for all they’ve been through!"

He continued: "Even more outrageous is that Avakian has also now ordered the Kleins to 'cease and desist' from speaking publicly about not wanting to bake cakes for same-sex weddings based on their Christian beliefs. This is an outright attack on their ‪#‎freedomofspeech‬. A senior attorney with the The Heritage Foundation was absolutely right when he said, 'It is exactly this kind of oppressive persecution by government officials that led the pilgrims to America.'"