The Weekly is a rundown of news by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlighting the week’s top news stories from the public square and providing commentary on the big issues of our day.

Christian Wedding Cake Baker Wins a Religious Liberty Case in California Court

A California trial court has upheld a Christian baker's right to refuse to create a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.

Last summer the state of California brought a lawsuit against Cathy Miller and her business, Cathy’s Creations, Inc., claiming she violated the state’s civil rights code prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Miller refuses to design and create wedding cakes to be used in the celebration of same-sex marriages because she believes that such marriages violate her deeply held Christian convictions.

According to the Freedom of Conscience Fund, the nonprofit legal group who defended Miller, two women entered Cathy’s Creations last year and asked Miller to design a wedding cake for their same-sex marriage. Cathy told the couple that designing a custom cake to celebrate a same-sex marriage was something she could not do, but she has an agreement to refer such same-sex couples to a competitor, Gimme Some Sugar.

The couple refused the compromise and filed a complaint with the state, alleging that Miller discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. After launching a formal investigation, the state sought a court order that would compel Miller to create custom wedding cakes celebrating same-sex marriages.

The state claimed that forcing Miller to use her artistic talents for such purposes was not a form of compelled speech. But Superior Court Judge David Lampe disagreed.

“A wedding cake is not just cake in Free Speech analysis,” said Judge Lampe. “It is an artistic expression by the person making it that is to be used traditionally as a centerpiece in the celebration of marriage. There could not be greater form of expressive conduct.”

The judge noted that having placed his or her work for public sale, no artist may refuse to sell for an unlawful discriminatory purpose. But, he added, “The difference here is that the cake in question is not yet baked.” The judge pointed out that,

The State is not petitioning the court to order defendants to sell a cake. The State asks this court to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create a cake she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in celebration of a marital union her religion forbids. For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.

In response to the ruling, Charles LiMandri, chief counsel in the case and president of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, said, “This is a major victory for faith and freedom because the judge indicated in his ruling that the State cannot succeed in this case as a matter of law. No doubt the California officials will continue their persecution of Cathy, but it is clear that she has the Constitution on her side.”

This week on ERLC podcasts: Daniel Darling talks to U.S. Senator James Lankford about his life in government and how he maintain his spiritual disciplines in a demanding, public life. On the Capitol Conversations podcast, the ERLC’s D.C. team reviews the status of politics and policy in Washington including abortion, immigration, and (yet another) CR week. Also, a quick look at the MLK50 Conference in Memphis, TN on April 3-4. And on the ERLC podcast, Lindsay Nicolet talks to Keith Getty about corporate singing. 

Other Issues

American Culture

Meet Lucas Warren, the first Gerber Baby with Down syndrome
Jeva Lange, The Week

The 2018 Gerber baby is sure to win over hearts everywhere with his light-up-the-room smile — and he's making history in the process. One-year-old Lucas Warren of Dalton, Georgia, is the first "spokesbaby" in the 90-year history of the Gerber Baby photo contest to have Down syndrome, Today announced Wednesday.

Here Are 3 Steps Trump Should Take to Fight Modern-Day Slavery
Sang Hyuk Park, So Yeon Le, and Olivia Enos , The Daily Signal

Human trafficking may be illegal in countries around the world, but the gruesome practice remains alive and well.

US says abortion gag rule cost only 4 organizations funding
Matthew Lee, Associated Press

The Trump administration said Wednesday that only four international organizations and a dozen of their local partners have refused to accept new rules for spending U.S. assistance that ban health care funds from being used to promote or perform abortions overseas. The International Planned Parenthood Federation is among those that declined.

Bioethics

Cloned monkeys spur warnings against human cloning
David Roach, Baptist Press

The first-ever primates cloned through a technique that produced Dolly the sheep have been cited by Christian bioethicists as a potentially valuable development in animal research. But they warned that two monkeys engineered by Chinese researchers must not become a step toward cloning humans.

Christianity and Culture

5 facts about the religious lives of African Americans
David Masci, Pew Research

Religion, particularly Christianity, has played an outsize role in African American history. While most Africans brought to the New World to be slaves were not Christians when they arrived, many of them and their descendants embraced Christianity, finding comfort in the Biblical message of spiritual equality and deliverance.

SpaceX launch spurs reflections on 'worthy venture'
David Roach, Baptist Press

Two evangelical physicists are hopeful the most powerful rocket ever launched into space by a private company will lead humans to greater knowledge of God.

Trump adviser says ignore flu shots and 'inoculate yourself with the word of God'
Karma Allen, ABC News

A Texas-based evangelist with ties to President Donald Trump came under fire this week after video re-surfaced of her telling followers that they don't need to get a flu shot because "Jesus himself gave us the flu shot."

WorldCrafts to aid Baptist foster care ministries
Robin McCall, Baptist Press

WorldCrafts, the global fair trade division of Woman's Missionary Union (WMU), has launched an initiative to support the work of the Baptist Coalition for Children and Families, encompassing Baptist children's ministries in 19 states.

Judges: ICE Can’t Deport 100 Christians to Indonesia (Yet)
Griffin Paul Jackson, Christianity Today

Immigrants in New Hampshire and New Jersey ‘fear persecution and torture’ back home.

Puerto Rico: 3,000 Churches Damaged, Fewer Christians Left to Rebuild
Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today

Attendance drops as 400,000 island residents move to the mainland.

Sexuality Issues

Not just boy and girl; more teens identify as transgender
Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press

Far more U.S. teens than previously thought are transgender or identify themselves using other nontraditional gender terms, with many rejecting the idea that girl and boy are the only options, new research suggests.

Nine Decades of Promiscuity
Nicholas H. Wolfinger, Institute for Family Studies

College-educated men born after the 1960s have had almost four fewer partners than their peers without four-year college degrees.