Commentary
Expert perspectives on justice concerns worldwide
On Valentine’s Day 2018, my family was celebrating together at home and at our children’s schools. Cards, chocolates, flowers, and sentiments of love and affection abounded. But in the backdrop were news reports of the school shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — such a stark contrast from the Valentine’s Day sentiments and such a terrible loss of 17 lives.
Commencing deliberations in the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case, the Supreme Court is poised to render a momentous decision on the future direction of First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.
The essential facts of the case are as follows: In July 2012, a gay couple from Colorado, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, planned to marry in Massachusetts and return home to celebrate their wedding. Colorado did not recognize same-sex weddings at that time and the Supreme Court had not yet ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges that found marriage to be a fundamental right that extends to same-sex marriages. Mr. Craig and Mr. Mullins visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado to purchase a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. “The owner, Jack Phillips, told them that he would happily provide baked goods for them for other occasions, but he would not create a cake for this event, citing his general policy, based on his religious convictions against participating in same-sex marriages.” Mr. Craig and Mr. Mullins did obtain a cake from another bakery, but filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission alleging discrimination by Masterpiece Cakeshop on the basis of sexual orientation. The Commission supported the discrimination complaint and the case has subsequently wound itself through the appeals process until reaching the Supreme Court this fall.
Contemplating potential societal changes the current technological revolution might create, it’s helpful to illuminate how dramatically the industrial revolution disrupted western society and culture. Consider the following:
Prior to the mid-1700s the family constituted the basic economic structure of society for Northern Europeans and American Colonialists. Families consisted mostly of a married couple, their children and oftentimes a hired teenage servant working for room, board and wages. Nearly all persons lived in rural areas and farming was of paramount importance as malnutrition and starvation were constant threats. A combination of disease and insufficient food resulted in an estimated 30 percent mortality rate for infants thru age fifteen. Independent living was nearly impossible to achieve for ordinary people due to the laborious nature of farming and other economic occupations, forcing nearly everyone to live within the confines of a household. Food costs represented 70-80 percent of household income for most families, leaving little if any discretionary income.
Will our civilization, the noblest and mightiest mankind has ever seen, uphold the heritage of Jefferson and Locke, Milton and Voltaire, the unfettered contest for truth? Or are we headed for something out of Orwell, where certain words and ideas are banned in ostensible service of the common good? This was the haunting question when free-speech defenders from three countries teamed up to oppose thought control and advocate genuinely open dialogue in the public square, last week at a 58-nation conference in Warsaw, Poland…
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