Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips created a national controversy after refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, saying it violates his religious beliefs.
After Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission upheld a judge’s ruling that he must serve gay couples, Phillips calmly told Glenn Beck on Thursday that he is willing to go to jail for his beliefs.
"If that's what it took," he said. "I'm not giving up my faith for anything. It's too high a price to pay."
In this March 10, 2014 photo, Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips decorates a cake inside his store, in Lakewood, Colo. Phillips is appealing a recent ruling against him in a legal complaint filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission by a gay couple he refused to make a wedding cake for, based on his religious beliefs. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) AP Photo/Brennan Linsley
Phillips is happy to provide birthday cakes and any other baked goods to the gay community, but says he does not want to be a part of a gay wedding.
"How is this not the same as me being a Quaker, saying it is against my religion to fight?" Beck asked.
"It's not different," Phillips' attorney Nicolle Martin responded. "The state of Colorado has no business forcing Jack to abandon his religious beliefs, his First Amendment beliefs, so that ... the government-approved message will be carried forward. It's truly frightening. It's Orwellian. And it's against everything America stands for."
Martin also confirmed that Phillips and his employees have been ordered to undergo sensitivity training, adding that if he declines to follow the order, "the state can go to a district court to have the order enforced."
Beck told Phillips: "This is your art. This is your passion. And now you're being told exactly what you can and can't do. This is not America. This is fascism.
[mlbvideo content_id=33464791]
The full episode of The Glenn Beck Program, along with many other live-streaming shows and thousands of hours of on-demand content, is available on just about any digital device. Get it all with a FREE TRIAL.
