The Christianist Conundrum: how to live a faith others have died for while keeping the unpopular, unprofitable bits secret?

A Pennsylvania bridal boutique is under fire after allegedly citing their Christian faith and refusing to sell wedding gowns to a same-sex couple. Shannon Kennedy and Julie Ann Samanas say earlier this month they went shopping for their March 2018 ceremony. After crossing off the word "groom" and replacing it with "bride," on W.W. Bridal Boutique's form, they were told, "I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we’re Christian and we don’t believe in that; our faith doesn’t let us believe in that." 

That's what Kennedy told Philadelphia Gay News. She also said, “I think we were kind of in shock.” 

“We all looked at each other and went, ‘Oo-k’ and walked out. It was unexpected. Afterwards, you think of everything you should have said.” 

On Facebook, according to PGN, the store wrote: "The owners of W.W. Bridal Boutique reserve the rights afforded to them by the First Amendment of the Constitution to live out our lives according to our faith. 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ We will continue to serve our customers based on the tenets of our faith.'"

The article goes on to report on a previous 2014 same-sex couple rejection by the boutique.

Has anyone ever seen a Christianist wedding services owner who just saved everyone trouble and advertised what groups they discriminate against because Jesus?

Why do they only come out of their deeply-held faith closets when there's fame to be had in court, or half a mil to hoover up in a social media money beg?

In 2016, the North Carolina hate group KeepNCSafe.org started recruiting businesss to support HB2, North Carolina's first discrimination law since the repeal of its Jim Crow statutes.

Only 71 businesses made a public pledge, KeepNCSafe says:

Due to vocal threats and bullying from the LGBT community, some business owners feared for the well-being of their business and families. For this reason, some preferred to remain anonymous by name, however, here is a list of timestamped signees with industry indication for those who have signed on, thus far, showing the incredibly large outpouring of support for the passage of HB2 on the North Carolina business community.

At the last update, April 29, 2016, the secret list claimed 332 supporters.