“I’m sorry. I cannot do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.” And with those words, she is losing everything. Even though the gay couple could have gotten free flowers from other florists. It’s hard to imagine that a judge could authorize the personal financial ruin of this woman. But it has happened.
(Click here to see the conversation:)
What happened? As our friends at Christian News Network report:
A Christian florist from Washington who is in jeopardy of losing her business, home and life savings after a judge found her guilty of discrimination this week for declining to fulfill an order for a same-sex ceremony will appeal the decision.
As previously reported, Baronelle Stutzman of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland was leveled with a lawsuit March 2012 by State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who claimed that she violated the law by not fulfilling the order.
Stutzman had been approached by one of her faithful customers, Robert Ingersoll, a homosexual, as he wanted her to supply the flowers for his upcoming ceremony with his partner, Curt. She states that she politely explained that she would not be able to help in regard to the event, but referred him to three other florists that may help.
“I just took his hands and said, ‘I’m sorry. I cannot do your wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ,’” Stutzman told reporters.
But after Ingersoll decided to post on Facebook about the matter, controversy arose on both sides of the issue—both for and against Stutzman. The florist said that she received a number of threatening and angry comments.
“It blew way out of proportion,” Stutzman explained. “I’ve had hate mail. I’ve had people that want to burn my building. I’ve had people that will never shop here again and [vow to] tell all their friends.”
Weeks later, Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued Stutzman a letter advising that she must accommodate homosexual ceremonies or be subject to a lawsuit and heavy fines. He included with his letter a form that offered Stutzman the opportunity to recant and agree to comply with the law. She refused, and was subsequently met with a discrimination suit.
But the Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) contended that Ferguson’s actions were inappropriate since he never received a complaint, but rather filed on his own volition. It also filed a motion asking that Ferguson and the ACLU—which filed a separate suit—be prohibited from attacking Stutzman on a personal level.
Last month, Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Eckstrom—while throwing out a charge that accused Stutzman of directing her business to violate the state’s anti-discrimination laws—ruled that the florist may be held personally responsible for the incident.
On Wednesday, Eckstrom granted summary judgment to Stutzman’s opponents, agreeing that she had committed an act of discrimination.
“For over 135 years, the Supreme Court has held that laws may prohibit religiously motivated action, as opposed to belief,” he wrote. “The Courts have confirmed the power of the Legislative Branch to prohibit conduct it deems discriminatory, even where the motivation for that conduct is grounded in religious belief.”
The court also ordered Stutzman to provide full service to same-sex ceremonies, which includes not only accepting the order, but also delivering to the homosexual celebration, and assisting with the specific arrangements and decoration on-site.
But ADF says that it will file an appeal of the decision and continue the fight.
“You put your home, your family business, and your life savings at risk by daring to defy a government mandate that forces you to promote views you believe are wrong,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner, who argued the case before the court.
“I just want the freedom to live and work faithfully and according to what God says about marriage without fear of punishment,” Stutzman added. “Others have the freedom to say or not say what they want to about marriage, and that’s all I’m asking for as well.”
Well, the issue here is that it was for a gay couples wedding. If she did it, it would be like giving it your blessing and condoning it (something the bible calls a sin in numerous places). Suppose the man had come in and simply said he wants to order flowers, even saying for a wedding. Fine. But once you know it is for a gay wedding, it gets messy. That is one of the problems of having a business as a Christian. There is much tribulation in the world, all kinds of complications the deeper you go. When the days get darker sooner or later they will come for you, starting at the top. I agree that sin in general has been whitewashed for a long time in the churches and that has paved the way for many problems.
Many of us are in prayer for Barronelle. May our Sovereign God protect your faith in Christ alone for salvation and for His peace, mercy, and grace as you humbly submit to Him. As the homosexual/self esteem movement bulldozes its way forward into the "enforcement of acceptance," we must remember this is a spiritual battle taking place in the invisible realm. The bottom line is the culmination of Lucifer's original statement to Eve in the Garden, "you shall be like god…." God's Holy Word clearly states in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11:
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And as such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
God speaks truth here, lest we not forget. And how many of us in the business realm HAVE conducted business; exchanging goods and services with fornicators, adulterers, idolators, thieves, the wicked covetous (can anyone say Americans are not covetous?), drunkards-communities even desire our school children to hang out in the bars with the adults, and the revilers and extortioners? And yet we choose to single out the homosexuals and sodomites.
Case in point; homosexuality is a sin and God's Word clearly states the homosexuals shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But does it bother the church if they marry divorced people over and over, or how about that couple that is living together (fornicating) in sin, or how about attending that wedding where the man or woman committed adultery which led to a divorce and they are now remarrying all the while they declared they were Christians, many of whom bear no marks of repentance nor humility. And yet…….
We do business with all of these not even batting an eye in the name of Jesus over these sins. We attend their showers, weddings, and think nothing of these sins and yet the Bible clearly condemns such as not inheriting the kingdom of God. Paul writes under inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, to the Corinthians "as such were some of you." This tells us that there is nothing new under the sun and they too, were committing these sins as we are in today's culture. And Paul did not list just one sin here, but many that defile the body.
Have we ever heard a cake decorator or a dress maker say, "I am sorry, but I cannot do business with you because of my faith in Jesus Christ in calling you out as a fornicator." We can substitute the word "fornicator" in the previous sentence with adulterer (divorcee), idolater, thief, drunkard, covetous, etc. And yet, as "the church," we don't even think twice about doing business with those engaged in such sins as these, do we?
Homosexuals demand acceptance of their sins, and are using the systems of this world to force it upon us. And yet, as I sit in churches, those around me have forced the acceptance of divorce, fornication, adultery, drunkenness, covetousness, idolatry, lusting………all in the name of a false jesus. Pity the born again Christian that speaks out against all of our sins and preaches a true Gospel message in our churches…..all of us should have sobering tears over the state of our own sinful conditions. And yet Paul states "But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
May God have mercy upon our sister in Christ, precious Barronelle, upon that homosexual couple created in God's image, yet believing a lie, and upon the state of marriage in this country, for some now consider it an "idol" unworthy of prayer. "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Jesus speaking.
There are a few ongoing conversations on this site with stories like this. Regardless of the exact situation, there are typically two underlying issues.
1. Welcome to taking your cross up daily. When you live your faith out in real life, you will be attacked. Jesus talks about this time and time again. So why are we surprised when things like this happen? Earth will not look anything close to heaven until Christ returns. Until then, it is our job to pray through the mess of society, showing His glory and love to as many as possible.
2. For those Christians that choose run a business…….discrimination is a crime, regardless of whether it is because of your religion or just plain old personal preference. When you choose to create a business, please run it with Christian values; pay your workers well, care for them and pray for them when they are in need, share the fruits of your labor, heck even close on Sundays. But remember that the same law that protects your right to be openly Christian protects others to be open as well.
They mentioned that one of these guys was a good, regular customer. If this were the case, I think there was a missed opportunity to share what kind of life God created for these 2 men. I believe that people are born with their sexual identity, and that being gay is not a choice. I also believe that if shown the love of Christ and shown the life that is possible in His glory, that there can be a choice to abstain. It is no different than those born with a chemical affliction for substance abuse or mental illness that causes a person to abuse physically or mentally.
All these afflictions can be corrected by His light and glory, but we need to show it first.
Matthew, as hard a pill as it is to swallow, you do suggest the response most aligned with Christ's teachings.
We fall to the flesh and away from the cross when we pursue revenge, retaliation, lawsuits, protests and pursuit of power over those who would persecute us or disagree with us. We are clearly instructed to show kindness and compassion, love, forgiveness, to turn the other cheek and to pray for those who would persecute us.
Instead, we immediately rally in anger and seek to hurt, insult, and berate anyone who crosses us. That is where our Christian testimony fails to the world, as we behave no differently from the non-believer. And in the end, we have demonstrated to the world that we do not believe prayer changes things nor that God has things in control, that everything will work out for those who love Him, according to His purpose.
If we want the world to see Christ, we have to get back to reflecting Him.
Matthew, I get where you're coming from in point # 1, but let's look at your point # 2. You say that Christians need to abide by the law when running their businesses. Well, when we started our business, we were in compliance state law concerning accommodating all protected classes (age, sex, race, disabilities), but then a year later, the state amended that law to include sexual orientation as a protected class. So far, we personally have not been targeted by the homosexual army. But are you saying that because we would not abide by this new law if challenged that we should just shut down the business now? What about other Christian business owners? Should all Christian business owners get out of business?
Peter and John said they would obey God rather than men when it came to spiritual things. Paul said the Christian should obey the civil laws but the scope of his ministry should show us what it looks like to disobey those laws if they constrict us spiritually. Paul and his companions, as well as some of his disciples, were imprisoned for their faith. So, rather than cave in and comply, they took their punishment. I get that this is to what you were referring in your first point, but then your second point seems to suggest that rather than continuing to exercise our Christian faith as those early Christians did, we should either quietly comply with laws that contradict our faith, or we should get out of business in order to avoid conflict.
We could send donations too!
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Or buy flowers from her in the name of Jesus (not sure what stage the business is in, just a thought).
I wish we had a more complete address for this woman. But maybe we could send cards of encouragement to her in care of Arlene's Flowers, Richland, Washington. Zip code I found was 99352.
For those interested in corresponding with Ms. Stutzman, you may want to go through her attorney at the following address:
Alicia Berry, 1141 N. Edison St., Kennewick, WA 99336
The judge's action doesn't make sense. He throws out the business part, so public accommodation no longer applies to the business. Then he opens up the door for personal attacks, but how can holding an opinion be a violation of business law (see Dan Cathy)? Then he adds public accommodation services that she doesn't necessarily do ( in part, forced to attend these "wedding" ). When are people going to admit that persecution of Christians is on a steep rise. The POTUS most recent claim of solving "extremist terrorists" is to give them jobs is an indication, a concern, that he will actually import them here and set off the total Jihad. I've been saying for quite some time that soon the real church will be forced underground.
How can we help?
The judge seems to have forgotten her 1st Amendment rights in the Bill of rights.