Remember Melissa Klein and her husband Aaron? They’re the Christian owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, a bakery in Portland, Oregon, who refused to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding, then releasing the couple’s information to the public. Their illegal actions ultimately cost them $135,000 in fines, an amount that was more-than-covered by the $515,000 in donations they received from online supporters. They finally paid that fine (with interest) a few days ago.

But how do you spin a story of bigots who make bank into a tale of Christian Persecution?

Simple. You just leave out the part about people raising more than half-a-million dollars on your behalf.

That’s what Professional Christian Liar Todd Starnes did, suggesting to his ignorant audience that the Kleins are now broke because of their devout faith:

Melissa Klein was checking her bank accounts just a few weeks before Christmas when her face turned ashen. The money was gone — every single penny. Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries had confiscated all the cash in Mrs. Klein’s checking account and savings account as well as a special account set aside for their church tithe. … It was the price the Kleins had to pay for following the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Either the Kleins are *really* bad with money, or Starnes left a vital detail out of his story in order to dupe his God-lovin’ followers. Because lying is entirely justified when you’re doing it in the name of the Lord.

Even if they didn’t have a donation windfall, though, it wouldn’t matter. The Kleins broke the law, and they were rightly punished for it. If money was such a big concern for them, maybe they should’ve accepted the cash that a lesbian couple wanted to give them for their services. Instead, the Kleins refused to complete their end of the deal — and they still have hundreds of thousands of dollars to show for it, no matter what various Christian publications tell you.

(Image via Shutterstock. Portions of this article were published earlier)



