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quilted3designHere’s another column I’ve written at RNS:

“We’d like you to make a cake for our divorce party,” Cindy says. She and Bob have been married for seven years, but they’ve grown apart in recent months. They separated six months ago, and now they want to part ways in the most amicable way possible. (In case you’re wondering what a divorce party is, it is a growing phenomenon of celebrating the close of a relationship, much like a wedding celebrates the consummation.) Bob and Cindy want a special cake for the event.

Unfortunately, their wedding vendor is a devoted Catholic who believes marriage is a sacrament, divorce a grave sin, and a party celebrating a divorce a kind of blasphemy. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m the right person to help with this event.”

“Oh, we’re religious too!” Cindy says. “We believe Jesus would rather us separate with a smile than soldier on in frustration.”

“I recognize your right to a divorce,” the wedding vendor says. “But I disagree with your take on what Jesus thinks about it. I still don’t think I’m the right person for this job. I don’t know how to decorate a divorce. I don’t know how to make blasphemy beautiful.”

What happens next? Switch the scenario from a “divorce party” to a “same-sex wedding,” and the vendor may be sued for discrimination or face heavy fines until she is forced to comply.

Wedding vendors, florists and photographers who object to same-sex marriage are at the front lines in what has become a battle between “religious freedom” and “gay rights.”

Those who support the vendors believe that religious people should be exempted from serving same-sex wedding ceremonies if their convictions are sincere; otherwise, we trample on the religious rights guaranteed in the First Amendment by forcing conscientious people of faith to be complicit in something they believe to be morally wrong.

Those who object worry that such exemptions will lead to widespread refusal of service to gays and lesbians, reminiscent of the segregation era. We might as well write “We don’t serve gays” on the window, effectively making our LGBT neighbors second-class citizens.

I don’t want to see either of these scenarios become reality, and I don’t think most of the country does either.

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