Christian Bakery Owner Says Mississippi’s Religious Protection Law Will Allow Discrimination against LGBT Community

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Apr 08, 2016

Christian Bakery Owner Says Mississippi’s Religious Protection Law Will Allow Discrimination against LGBT Community

A Christian man who owns a Mississippi bakery has criticized the state’s new religious freedom bill which he believes authorizes discrimination against the LGBT community.

Christian Today reports that Mitchell Moore, who owns Campbell’s Bakery in Jackson, identifies as a Republican and a Christian. However, rather surprisingly to many, Moore is not in favor of the new law signed by Gov. Phil Bryant which would allow religious organizations, businesses, and individuals to refuse service to LGBT people if they feel serving someone who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender violates their “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

In an interview with NPR, Moore stated, "I don't think that there is such a thing as a deeply held religious belief that you should not serve people. I am here to bake cakes and to sell those cakes. I'm not here to decide arbitrarily who deserves my cake and who doesn't. That's not what I do. That's not my job.”

"So leaving aside the stupidity of passing it because it decriminalizes discrimination – which, that really is kind of the biggest issue – but I can actually say I think the law of unintended consequences is going to come back to bite the people who signed this bill," Moore continued.

"If it is my sincerely held religious belief that I shouldn't serve them, then I can do that. And I can hide behind that language. But that language is so vague it opens a Pandora's box. And you can't shut it again,” he said.

Although Moore identifies himself as a “deeply Christian man,” many of Moore’s fellow Christians don’t share his stance on this issue, such as an Illinois couple who refused to host a same-sex wedding at their bed and breakfast recently. 

"There is no sincerely held religious belief to think that I am better than other people – to think that my sin is different than other people," Moore concluded.

Publication date: April 8, 2016



Christian Bakery Owner Says Mississippi’s Religious Protection Law Will Allow Discrimination against LGBT Community