The Post editorial: Accusations that the Colorado Civil Rights Division is biased against Christians are absurd.

Accusations that the Colorado Civil Rights Division is biased against Christians or has denied due process to those accused of discrimination are absurd.

We were dismayed when members of the U.S. Supreme Court raised that specter in December during oral arguments in the Colorado case involving a cake shop owner who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

And we are dismayed now that Republicans in the Colorado General Assembly are calling for unspecified changes to be made to the division in light of those accusations.

The case, Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, is awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court as we speak.

At the core of the dispute is what should prevail when closely held religious beliefs lead to discrimination of a protected class.

Republicans generally believe freedom of religion should prevail and that some discrimination should be tolerated in the name of not infringing on one’s right to practice their chosen religion. Democrats generally hold that if you operate a place of public accommodation or offer a service or housing to the general public, you check your religious liberties at the door of commerce and cannot discriminate.

There is a legitimate conflict between the two, but this editorial board has long held that in the Masterpiece case, baker Jack Phillips can be compelled by the government not to discriminate against customers based on their sexual orientation. It’s a legal question that is open to dispute. Phillips focused his legal argument on the principle that his cakes are a matter of expression and government cannot compel him to express something that he has deeply held religious beliefs against.

The Colorado Civil Rights Division investigated and found probable cause that Phillips had violat- ed Colorado’s anti-discrimination act by refusing to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple. The Civil Rights Commission — a sevenmember board appointed by the governor — then determined the charge of discrimination was warranted and filed a formal complaint before an administrative law judge.

The judge determined Phillips was guilty of discriminating against the couple and the commission ordered Phillips to stop his discriminatory practices and required Phillips to train his staff to ensure future compliance with the state law.

While we don’t buy Phillips’ legal argument, we can see how there is a question here that needs to be answered by the highest court in the land.

We do not see evidence, however, that the division, the commission or the administrative law judge ruled against Phillips because they were biased against Christians or because the system is broken.

Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch raised that very premise during oral arguments for the Masterpiece case, pointing to comments from two commissioners that they thought showed a bias against religious beliefs, and to a separate case where the commission found a cake shop owner could not be compelled to make a cake that expressed anti-gay sentiments, even if those sentiments were based on bible verses.

With all due respect to the preeminent legal minds of our time, attacking the commission that made the ruling, rather than trying to get at the core of the legal dispute, strikes us as an effort to grasp at straws rather than resolve a legitimate conflict between discrimination and First Amendment rights. Shame on the justices and shame on Colorado Republicans for picking up the same straws with their efforts to demand that something — it’s unclear what — change at the Colorado Civil Rights Division.