Life isn’t fair.
You mean I’m not the first person to say that? Unfair that somebody else thought up that sentence before I did!
And that brings me to the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which will be argued Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s not fair for a gay couple to have limited choice in bakers to craft their wedding cake. It’s also not fair for a baler to be forced to do work for a ceremony he is opposed to. Enter the Supreme Court.
We will soon have more to say about Masterpiece Cakeshop; after all, we’re a blog about liberal religion. But for now, the engagingly written New York Times article below got me thinking about life and fairness. And wondering whether legislatures and courts are the best institutions to make life more fair. — MHP
Truly Open Minds and Hearts 
From the linked article “When granted the right to marry, are we also granted the right to a wedding and a host of other cultural expressions?”
Answer: No. As so many couples before you have discovered, you don’t have the right to other people’s approval, other people’s money, other people’s attendance, other people’s time, effort and creativity.
Since Jack Phillips was not the only baker in the area, he wasn’t depriving the gay couple of a cake. He would have sold them a pre-made cake. He just didn’t want to participate in a ritual that violated his conscience. It ought to be noted, here, that Mr. Phillips was willing to forego the profit that making the cake would have brought to him. Under capitalism, there is a built-in disincentive for refusing to bake cakes for any given customer.
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The author of the op-ed never gives his position on the question, and I got the impression that he agrees with you.
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I did, too—it’s an ambivalent thing, for me as (I can only imagine) for him: there is the jubilation of being able, at last, to recognize these relationships for what they are. And then there’s the crappy feeling of being still-not-quite. I don’t blame the couple in the Colorado case for being upset. But there is a certain vindictiveness about these cases that is unattractive and uninspiring.
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