Gus talks about several of the Supreme Court decisions that came down yesterday, particularly blocking a California law that required crisis pregnancy centers in that state to post information on programs to obtain a free or low-cost abortion and their decision to vacate a Washington state ruling against local florist Barronelle Stutzman who in 2013 declined to make a floral arrangement for a same-sex marriage. Senior Policy Advisor for the Catholic Association, Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie, calls in to give some background and insight to these decisions. Later, Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, the law firm which represented the defendants in both cases, calls in to go over the nuts and bolts of these cases.
Also, in honor of Opus Dei founder St. Josemaría Escrivá's feast day yesterday, Gus breaks out his 1934 book, The Way, which contains 999 points of spirituality and motivational quotes. Gus invites to call in and pick a number between 1 and 999 and imparts some of the saint's wisdom to those who get on the air.
Hi Gus! I live in Denver and have followed the Masterpiece Bakery case. We purposely drove about 30 minutes from home in order to purchase cakes from them recently as our way to show support. Side note: the cakes were beautiful and delicious! When you brought up civility today, it struck a chord with me. First of all, the states of Colorado and Washington would never have known about “the issues” had individuals not made it an issue. In the case of the florist, you mentioned that the two gentlemen had done business with her previously. So, in my humble opinion, a civil response on their part would have been to say something like: “We don’t agree with your religious view on same-sex marriage, yet we respect you as a person. However, we will do business elsewhere.” We all have the right to do our business elsewhere. As in my situation, we chose to do our business WITH Masterpiece Bakery. Being civil and respectful of other human beings – especially those who may believe differently – is definitely one side effect of social media (to your point). It is my calling then to behave in a manner that is an example of God’s love to all those I encounter in my daily life.