Before you read my thoughts, here’s the source article from Desiring God: Some Foreseen Effects of Legalizing So-Called Same Sex Marriage.
When a Christian business makes a business decision based on their religion, shouldn’t that be protected by the First Amendment? To Christians doing business, I don’t know the case law or constitutional issues around a “right to refuse service,” but you would be well advised to follow this issue, or to somehow include in your marketing materials that you are a faith based business. However if you see your work as “Business as Mission,” then how are you going to reach people if you refuse to accept them as clients based on their unbeliever’s decision to live outside of a believer’s moral standard? If it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the heart and induce repentance, then we should exercise discernment and be open to allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us in that person’s life.
Hopefully it is at least somewhat clear that I see both a civic and an evangelistic dimension in this issue. From the civic dimension I believe that the court was utterly wrong to infringe on what appears to me to be the First Amendment rights of a business (we know from the Citizens United decision that the First Amendment applies to businesses). From the evangelistic dimension (which Pastor Piper didn’t mention in his post, but I assume he would agree) Christians still have a duty to love and evangelize homosexuals (under the Great Commission and Greatest Commandment). As this is a particularly delicate area of evangelism, great care should be taken when deciding the nature of even a business-as-mission interaction with a client living in overt sin. Not every Christian, and certainly not every Christian business is equipped to minister effectively to homosexuals; and even if they are effectively equipped for such work, the business relationship with that particular client or prospect may not be conducive to evangelism.
If you are a Christian doing business, are you personally equipped for ministry to homosexuals (or addicts, or xyz overt sinner)? If you are, might the typical business-client relationship in your field open doors to do such ministry? If not (which I believe was most likely the case for Elane Photography), then you are probably correct not to do business with that client in a way which might be perceived to condone their sin – and any American court which chides you for exercising such right of refusal is infringing upon your First Amendment right to practice your religion without interference from the government.
Think Rhema 