I'm of two minds about this (as an lgbt person and a religious minority).

I honestly believe that everyone has a right to conduct their business as they see fit; within reason. I have a friend whose restaurant is not open because it is his Sabbath, even though it costs him literally thousands of dollars per closing. I've seen him refuse to serve customers for being flat out obnoxious jerks.

At the same time.....it's 2018 for goodness sake! What are we doing discriminating against people for who they love, or the color of their skin, or even the imaginary clarity of how they worship. How the hell do you refuse service to someone because you THINK they are gay, or Jewish,, or foreign?

I usually enjoy RadioLab, but have yet to get into their More Perfect spin-off. I'll give this a listen soon.

This is from your post, a reply that I think is very useful.

Dr JJ Walker from CORNING NU
"I think the obvious question was missed. Are the people who don’t like how the 14th amendment was used to manage wheat and restaurants willing to give up its benefits. The farmer sold his wheat at the elevated government subsidized price. The restaurant took advantage of the better beef prices due to interstate commerce. The question to both should have been are you willing to not enjoy the benefits of laws to get your absolute freedom. Using a law when it benefits you and decrying it when you don’t is the issue."

Feb. 01 2018 01:02 PM

I live in Oregon. The fines the bakery owners were given where more imposed because of what they did after the complaint was filed. Yes, they denied making the case because they opposed gay marriage (which seems a pretty cut and dried case. When you open a business in Oregon, you agree not to discriminate against your customers for any reason. ANY reason.) but they published the family's home information and encouraged people to threaten and harass them. The family received multiple death threats.

The bakery owners received hundreds of thousands of dollars through crowd funding and free legal representation. They had paid the fine (no skin off their teeth, it was free money) and then later decide to appeal. The poor Christians are being discriminated against again. Sniffles