City Threatens to Arrest Ministers Who Refuse to Perform Same-Sex Weddings

[Revmitchell]

Two Christian ministers who own an Idaho wedding chapel were told they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to $1,000 in daily fines, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court.

Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Donald and Evelyn Knapp, two ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel in Coeur d’Alene.

“Right now they are at risk of being prosecuted,” attorney Jeremy Tedesco told me. “The threat of enforcement is more than just credible.”

The wedding chapel is registered as a “religious corporation” limited to performing “one-man-one-woman marriages as defined by the Holy Bible.”

However, the chapel is also a for-profit business and city officials said that means the owners must comply with the local nondiscrimination ordinance.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarne...-who-refuse-to-perform-same-sex-weddings.html

 

[carpro]

Let me make a wild guess...

this is something you would willingly go to jail over. :godisgood:

 

[Magnetic Poles]

Not a church. A wedding Chapel is a business... A place of public accommodation.

 

[Sapper Woody]

This is not persecution. This is someone knowingly breaking the law. If they weren't willing to abide by the law, they shouldn't have opened a for-profit chapel.

 

[Use of Time]

Another thread where the title is much more sensationalistic than the content. Sounds like a couple with a business plan and an online ordination. The Hitching Post. Really? :laugh:

 

[Revmitchell]

Another thread where the title is much more sensationalistic than the content.

Senstionalistic? Good grief

 

[Use of Time]

Senstionalistic? Good grief

Well yeah, I mean most people would read that title and think it was a church getting taken to task for refusing to marry LGBT couples. Then of course I see the name of this "church" as the Hitching Post and can't help but roll my eyes.

 

[Revmitchell]

Well yeah, I mean most people would read that title and think it was a church getting taken to task for refusing to marry LGBT couples. Then of course I see the name of this "church" as the Hitching Post and can't help but roll my eyes.

It doesn't day anything about a church the title is pretty matter of fact.

 

[Use of Time]

It doesn't day anything about a church the title is pretty matter of fact.

Then what is the issue? Sapper Woody has it right. For-profit chapel is subject to the rule of law. What point do you wish to discuss here?

 

[Revmitchell]

Then what is the issue? Sapper Woody has it right. For-profit chapel is subject to the rule of law. What point do you wish to discuss here?

So the title is not sensationalistic now?

 

[Revmitchell]

....The government should not force ordained ministers to act contrary to their faith under threat of jail time and criminal fines,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “Many have denied that pastors would ever be forced to perform ceremonies that are completely at odds with their faith, but that’s what is happening here – and it’s happened this quickly. The city is on seriously flawed legal ground, and our lawsuit intends to ensure that this couple’s freedom to adhere to their own faith as pastors is protected just as the First Amendment intended.”

“The government exists to protect and respect our freedoms, not attack them,” Tedesco added. “The city cannot erase these fundamental freedoms and replace them with government coercion and intolerance.”

The Hitching Post Wedding Chapel is across the street from the Kootenai County Clerk’s office, which issues marriage licenses. The Knapps, both in their 60s and who themselves have been married for 47 years, began operating the wedding chapel in 1989 as a ministry. They perform religious wedding ceremonies, which include references to God, the invocation of God’s blessing on the union, brief remarks drawn from the Bible designed to encourage the couple and help them to have a successful marriage, and more. They also provide each couple they marry with a CD that includes two sermons about marriage, and they recommend numerous Christian books on the subject. The Knapps charge a small fee for their services.


http://www.adfmedia.org/News/PRDetail/9364

 

[Judith]

I am not sure that they have a legitimate complaint. This is a business, not a church. I would ask them do they marry straight people who are already living together or people who are not Christians? I think these people are using the Lord for a cloak to make money and pick and choose who they serve. If this was a church or part of a church it would be different.

I suggest that they shut this business down as it is, unite with a church or several churches, do weddings only for members in good standing, make it a true ministry, and they would be safe. Honestly I do not think they have a case under the law. In my opinion they are using their freedom as a cloak of unrighteousness.

Now let me say this. Would I marry a homosexual couple, NO! But neither would I start a business and try and use my ordination to circumvent the law. In fact I would not use my ordination for anything other than a true ministry. In my opinion these two are wrong for making this a business, wrong for using the Lord, and now they are wrong for breaking the law. The Lord NEVER called anyone to set up a wedding chapel. This is not a ministry. It is a business and like it or not we can no longer refuse service to those who have lifestyle we do not like as long as those lifestyles are legal.

 

[Revmitchell]

Hobby Lobby a Christian for profit business was gien the green light to opt out of providing certain kinds of birth control and they did so on religious conscience grounds.

Weather you are a non profit or for profit no one should have to provide service to homosexual activites.

 

[Rolfe]

Proofreading what one writes before clicking "submit" is a good habit to establish.

 

[Salty]

Not a church. A wedding Chapel is a business... A place of public accommodation.

But the government discriminates!!!
I work in a C-Store. I am NOT permitted to sell booze to adults under the age of 21.

I am not even allowed to tell a pregnant woman that drinking booze may harm her baby.

Who is the government to make moral decisions.

The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ..."-

Forcing me to preform a homosexual@l wedding is PROHIBITING my free exercise of religion.

 

[Judith]

Hobby Lobby a Christian for profit business was gien the green light to opt out of providing certain kinds of birth control and they did so on religious conscience grounds.

Weather you are a non profit or for profit no one should have to provide service to homosexual activites.

That is different. These people are not being told to pay for the wedding of homosexuals. Hobby lobby was against having to pay for the abortion drugs. Hobby lobby has to service homosexuals just like straight people.

 

[Revmitchell]

That is different. These people are not being told to pay for the wedding of homosexuals. Hobby lobby was against having to pay for the abortion drugs. Hobby lobby has to service homosexuals just like straight people.

While money was involved, money was not the issue with Hobby Lobby.

 

[Judith]

But the government discriminates!!!
I work in a C-Store. I am NOT permitted to sell booze to adults under the age of 21.

I am not even allowed to tell a pregnant woman that drinking booze may harm her baby.

Who is the government to make moral decisions.

The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ..."-

Forcing me to preform a homosexual wedding is PROHIBITING my free exercise of religion.

No it is not. Ministers do not have to marry people to exercise their religious beliefs, but when you go into business to marry people you have to obey the non discrimination laws. The Lord says to obey the law. The only out is if the law stands against His commands and since no minister is commanded to marry people the out is marry no one if it goes that far. These people are using the Lord as a cloak of unrighteousness.

 

[Judith]

While money was involved, money was not the issue with Hobby Lobby.

Yes money was the issue. You need to bone up on their claim. Their claim was that they were being forced to pay for abortions and those abortions would violate their religious beliefs. They did not go to court fighting abortion. They went to court fighting to not have to pay for them.

 

[Revmitchell]

Yes money was the issue. You need to bone up on their claim. Their claim was that they were being forced to pay for abortions and those abortions would violate their religious beliefs. They did not go to court fighting abortion. They went to court fighting to not have to pay for them.

Uh no its not. It is about being forced to go against their sincerely held religious beliefs.