The Christian Post‘s Napp Nazworth notes: “For all the talk about the Republican presidential candidate and Ohio governor being a ‘moderate,’ Kasich is an extremist, more akin to President Barack Obama, on religious freedom.”
Nazworth then goes on to present a couple instances of Kasich’s extremism. Back on February 13 in a debate, Kasich said: “I think frankly, our churches should not be forced to do anything that’s not consistent with them. But if you’re a cupcake maker and somebody wants a cupcake, make them a cupcake. Let’s not have a big lawsuit or argument over all this stuff — move on. The next thing, you know, they might be saying, if you’re divorced you shouldn’t get a cupcake.”
And then again on March 3rd, Kasich said, “we need to learn to respect each other, and learn to be a little bit more tolerant for one another, and at the end of the day, don’t go to court. … If somebody’s being pressured to participate in something that is against their deeply held religious beliefs, then we’re gonna have to think about dealing with a law. … I’d rather people figure this out without having more laws on the books.”
At the time he was asked, Christian business owners such as Arlene’s Flowers, Elane Photography, Liberty Ridge Farm, and Masterpiece Cakeshop were already in court, and Sweet Cakes by Melissa had already been heavily fined for declining to serve same-sex weddings based on their religious convictions.
As Nazworth points out, the problem with Kasich is that “[t]he moderate position is to have both religious freedom and gay marriage, to let same-sex couples get a state marriage license while letting dissenters live their lives according to their beliefs.”
And Kasich’s position on religious liberty is not moderate.
Brittany Klein is the co-author of Jephthah’s Daughters: Innocent Casualties in the War for Family ‘Equality’ and serves on the board and academic council of the International Children’s Rights Institute.
