REVEALED: Colorado commissioner compared Christian baker to a Nazi

Back in May of last year we reported that Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission agreed with a judge’s decision and ordered Jack Phillips, a Christian Colorado Baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a homosexual wedding, to stop discriminating against gays.

Well now his attorneys, Alliance Defending Freedom, have released audio of one of the commission members comparing Phillips to a Nazi, suggesting that this member was already hostile to Phillip’s religion and therefore biased against him:

ADF – Alliance Defending Freedom and an allied attorney represent Jack Phillips, a Lakewood, Colo., cake artist who declined to use his artistic talents to celebrate a same-sex ceremony. Their brief filed Friday in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Craig cites a July 25 commission hearing transcript from last year in which Commissioner Diann Rice makes the following comment just before denying Phillips’ request to temporarily suspend the commission’s re-education order:

“I would also like to reiterate what we said in…the last meeting [concerning Jack Phillips]. Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust… I mean, we can list hundreds of situations where freedom of religion has been used to justify discrimination. And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use – to use their religion to hurt others.”

“Such alarming bias and hostility toward Jack’s religious beliefs – and toward religion in general – has no place in civil society, let alone on a governmental commission that sits in judgment of whether he may follow his faith in how he runs his business,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “Commissioner Rice compared a private citizen who owns a small bakery to slaveholders and Holocaust perpetrators merely for asking that the state respect his right to free speech and free exercise of religion. Her comments suggest that others on the commission may share her view. This anti-religious bigotry undermines the integrity of the entire process and the commission’s order as well.”

They are submitting this to the appeals court in Colorado.


Comment Policy: Please read our comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.