Star Trek Actor Supports Rights of Bakers
To Say No to Gay Weddings
I was a diehard “Star Trek: The Next Generation” fan as a kid, and Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard, was always my favorite. Patrick Stewart also played Professor Charles Xavier in the “X-Men” films.
To my surprise, the Captain and Professor himself has come out in support of the rights of Christian bakers in Ireland to not provide services to customers if it violates their personal beliefs.
I agree with him. It’s wrong to force a privately owned business to do something that violates their religious beliefs.
Frankly, I’m sick of people trying to do this to Christian small business owners. They’re using bullying tactics to force others to accept their worldview. I don’t like bullies, regardless of their religious or political viewpoints. Bullies in general are annoying, and they are often very self-centered. I went to a hyper-liberal college, and I’d say 6 out of 10 gay activists that I met were extremely aggressive, in-your-face bullies the moment they detected even the slightest hint of something in your belief system that did not align with theirs. Gay activists are some of the most intolerant people I’ve ever met. It’s ironic. (Though, to be fair, maybe that’s just how it was at my alma mater while I was there. Maybe it’s not like that anymore. Who knows.)
Of course, this does not mean that Patrick Stewart supports Christianity or opposes same-sex marriage. He simply supports the rights of business owners to say “no” to servicing an event if that event is offensive to their religious beliefs.
And it is wrong to use government or legal coercion to force private businesses to align themselves to a worldview that directly contradicts their beliefs. Here is a more detailed excerpt that has a quote from Stewart (taken from BreakingChristianNews and LifeSiteNews):
Patrick Stewart, also known as Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, has publicly come out in support of beleaguered Ashers Bakery, saying the Christian bakers in Northern Ireland have every right to refuse to ice cakes with wording they deem offensive.
Speaking on the BBC’s flagship daily news and current affairs program Newsnight, Stewart said, “Finally, I found myself on the side of the bakers.”
Last month, a Belfast County Court judge issued a precedent-setting ruling when she found the Christian-owned family bakery guilty of “direct discrimination” for refusing to bake a cake supporting same-sex “marriage.”
Ashers Bakery had been asked to ice a cake with the slogan “Support Gay Marriage,” along with the logo of the homosexual pressure group QueerSpace, and a picture of Sesame Street puppet characters Bert and Ernie.
This email was sent privately to me on Facebook (Abbie Stancato). I feel readers should be presented with all opposing sides and opinions!
To be more concerned for how ‘bakers’ fare in our countries shift towards equality than the plight of LGBT persons is to fundamentally misunderstand civil and human rights. The gay rights movement seeks equal treatment from businesses, the same equal treatment demanded by activists of the past, whose ‘bullying’ tactics shifted our countries policies to allow people of color and women to demand the same. To believe that attraction for someone of the same sex is somehow a moral issue, is to fundamentally misunderstand sexuality, and to distrust the openly gay people you must know when they proclaim they were in fact ‘born this way’. Your freedoms to practice your Christianity are under no threat. To focus on how the civil and human rights of a small and vulnerable population is to somehow erode the religious liberties of the dominant class is the true spirit of oppression and bullying. The legal and social climate of our country’s tolerance to LGBT population seeks to actually improve and protect life of our vulnerable. To flash your membership of the dominant class is to take a moral stand on an issues that does nothing to help people. What prevents you from focusing your effort to a cause that is actually meaningful?
What really concerns me of you and other social republicans is that you seem to put so much out there, without making any meaningful attempt to actually understand the issue.
Dear Anonymous,
First off, to compare the LGBT cause with the Civil Rights Movement is problematic. The presupposition that gays are “born that way” — which is disputable (and people shouldn’t be mercilessly insulted just because they express some doubt about this claim) — and then somehow using that claim to equate their suffering with generations of slavery and segregation that African-Americans suffered is just insane. I also find your comment hypocritical. You dismiss them as “bakers” — yes, you even put “bakers” in quotes to add an “oh, no big deal” tone to your comment — and you downplay their perspective as being unimportant in comparison. Well, some of these small business owners have had their lives RUINED — as in they lost their business, their livelihood, and their home — by similar lawsuits trying to bully small businesses into denying their religious beliefs. And you just dismiss that as if that’s unimportant? Excuse me, but that sets a legal precedent, and it DOES threaten religious liberty and — at the very least — creates a climate of fear among business owners who feel that they are no longer at liberty to stand by their religious beliefs because they might be sued by powerful, well-funded activist organizations. I’m sorry, but in those situations, the LGBT is the “dominant” party. Small businesses stand no chance against the high-powered lawyers of some of these national activist organizations. If someone destroyed your livelihood and put you out on the street would you think that unimportant? I’m guessing not. Just because someone does not subscribe to a certain gender theory that you have or certain views about sexuality, does that mean they should then be penalized by lawsuits that are clearly designed to destroy them and “make an example” out of them? Your comment is unbelievably hypocritical. You are doing the very thing that you are accusing me of doing.
Frankly, I much prefer gay activists like this one below, who recognize that small businesses actually have the right to run their business in a way that is consistent with their personal beliefs. When the pizzeria in Indiana was sued by activists, this gay woman sent them money and apologized with this statement:
“As a member of the gay community, I would like to apologize for the mean spirited attacks on you and your business. I know many gay individuals who fully support your right to stand up for your beliefs and run your business according to those beliefs. We are outraged at the level of hate and intolerance that has been directed at you and I sincerely hope that you are able to rebuild.”
My entire point with this article is this: I wish the gay community would be more like this woman and stop trying to destroy the livelihood of small business owners simply because of their religious beliefs.
Since this was sent directly to me, I will offer my personal perspective…
My personal opinion as a Christian: If I were a baker, I would serve everyone. My goal would be to offer myself as an example of a Christian. I have several friends who are gay, and I love them dearly.
My issue is not with the LGBT community. It personally bothers me that some LGBT individuals feel compelled to sort through Christian businesses to single out and publicly persecute those who oppose. To defend my business partner Kevin Ott, to seek out some, and call out an entire group is bullying, and is the same type of discrimination you yourself oppose! Not every Christian refuses to serve the LGBT community. What bothers me it that certain sections of some religions believe that gays should be murdered. Where’s the anger and recoil there. Why are Christians isolated? The LGBT community and our government should not allow that type of persecution.
As far as our right to practice is no threat to Christianity is not correct. Recently a member of the Air Force was court Martialed for displaying a bible verse… http://www.charismanews.com/us/49804-marine-court-martialed-for-displaying-bible-verse-in-workplace. This is one of many situations facing Christians who openly practice their faith.
As a Christian it is my personal prayer to bring all to Christ.