I have been trying for a month to read the Creative LLC v. Elenis opinion and I can’t. I’m giving up.
I blame my sister. She broke my brain a bit.
You see, the argument on this case is free speech. I think free speech is one of the most important rights we MUST protect. It is one of those rights that is hard for a free society but vital. I try to read all the free-speech opinions from SCOTUS. I think it’s important to stay up-to-date on the current voice.
I talked to my sister early in July about wanting to read it and she broke me with this idea, “I love how you assume the arguments are being made in good faith.”
I… weell.. of course? Yes? Yikes.
She’s right. We see it all the time that people don’t make an argument in good faith. It’s the “well, actually….” bro-verse, devil’s advocate, fedora-tilted-incel’s wet dream… yeah, there are people who make arguments in bad faith. I had trouble wrapping my brain around it getting all the way to the Supreme Court. It hurts.
In case you couldn’t tell, I have a special love of the SCOTUS. I’ve enjoyed reading court opinions since I took Constitutional History (and the irony that the professor despised me and it was my worst college grade…. not lost on me). Freedom of speech opinions? I give them a chef’s kiss. They are usually the first and fastest I get through.
I have read the syllabus at least 6 times. Well, I’ve started it. There’s a line early in that says “Before the district court, Ms. Smith and the State stipulated to a number of facts: Ms. Smith is “willing to work with all people regardless of classifications such as race, creed, sexual orientation, and gender” and “will gladly create custom graphics and websites” for clients of any sexual orientation; she will not produce content that “contradicts biblical truth” regardless of who orders it; Ms. Smith’s belief that marriage is a union between one man and one woman is a sincerely held conviction;””
It breaks me. I have tried to get past it (literally, this is on the first page). But that “sincerely held conviction” line…. which is totally a dog whistle (a subtly aimed political message which is intended for, and can only be understood by, a particular group). I know it’s a dog whistle because I try to dip my toes into conservative media just enough to have been exposed to it, I’ve heard it used before and it almost always implies an anti-LBGTIA+ stance. I can’t even read the rest because I am fuming that bad faith (both literally and figuratively) are standing in front of me.
Being a Christian is hard, and it isn’t going to get any easier. We are supposed to ” give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:21B). I think this actually dovetails well with separation of Church and State. We, Christians, can honor and respect the State without becoming a creature of the world. We are called to resist becoming a creature of the state/world. For this woman…. these people to use my faith to hurt those who are already the “least of these” (Matthwer 25:45) disgusts me to my core.
I warned you, this one broke me. It has had me twisted up for over a month because I really wanted to blog about free speech. But I can’t. I can’t get past it. So I’m giving up. And I’m explaining to anyone reading this why.
Dream by Day 