What’s a simple definition of slavery?: “submission to a dominating influence.” If a person is forced to do work against his will, then that person is a slave. Slavery has returned to the United States, this time in the state of Colorado:

“Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission on Friday ordered a baker to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding his religious objections to the practice did not trump the state’s anti-discrimination statutes.”

“The unanimous ruling from the seven-member commission upheld an administrative law judge’s finding in December that Jack Phillips violated civil rights law when he refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple in 2012. The couple sued.”

What did we expect from a panel whose sole job is to root out “discrimination” wherever it is found? No one was harmed in the refusal to bake a cake for something that is illegal in Colorado. That’s right. Homosexual marriage is still illegal in Colorado. Of course, it won’t be long before some unelected judge changes that. The “couple” had been married in Massachusetts and wanted to celebrate their biologically untenable union in the anti-homosexual marriage state of Colorado.

What if a panel of Nazis ordered a Jewish tailor to make patches for Jews to wear that identified them as Jews?

What if a government commission ordered a black printer to print signs for a KKK rally?

What if a government commission compelled a catering service owned by homosexuals to supply food and beverages for an anti-homosexual conference?

One of the commissioners said, in defense of the ruling, “I can believe anything I want, but if I’m going to do business here, I’d ought to not discriminate against people.”

Jack Phillips is now a slave to the state of Colorado and any homosexual customer who comes into his bakery and wants a homosexual-themed cake or cookies. He is being compelled to do work for somebody whose actions he finds morally compromising.

Let’s say a homosexual group wants him to do a pornographic cake for a “gay” event. Will he be able to refuse the order? And yet, if a heterosexual group ordered the same type of cake, and the bakery refused, no one’s rights would have been violated. Same type of cake, but one protected class of people makes all the difference in the world.

“Phillips, a devout Christian who owns the Masterpiece Cakeshop in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, said the decision violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise of his religion. ‘I will stand by my convictions until somebody shuts me down,’ he told reporters after the ruling.

“He added his bakery has been so overwhelmed by supporters eager to buy cookies and brownies that he does not currently make wedding cakes.”

Remember when we were told that laws protecting same-sex sexuality and legalizing homosexual marriage would have no effect on people who opposed such things? Live and let live, we were told. Yea, right.

To show that Mr. Phillips is a slave to the state of Colorado, “The panel . . . ordered Phillips to stop discriminating against gay people and to report quarterly for two years on staff anti-discrimination training and any customers he refuses to serve.” Not only is he a slave, but he has to go through re-education and state-sanctioned indoctrination to force him to comply with what the state mandates. Clockwork Orange comes to mind.