The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a narrow victory to a Christian baker from Colorado who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. - Supreme Court rules in favor of Colorado baker.

The Supreme Court on Monday handed a narrow victory to a Christian baker from Colorado who refused for religious reasons to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

The justices, in a 7-2 decision, faulted the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's handling of the claims brought against Jack Phillips, saying it had showed a hostility to religion. In doing so, the commission violated his religious rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

But the court did not issue a definitive ruling on the circumstances under which people can seek exemptions from anti-discrimination laws based on their religious views.

The commission had said Phillips violated the Colorado anti-discrimination law that bars businesses from refusing service based on race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation by rebuffing gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012.

Two of the court's four liberals, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, joined the five conservative justices in the ruling authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Ohio Christian Alliance President Chris Long stated the following concerning today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. "We celebrate today's decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of Religious Liberty in the Colorado baker's case. Today the court reinforced the First Amendment rights of every American to freely live out their religious beliefs according to the dictates of their own conscience as they see fit, not what the state dictates they should be. We hope this sends a clear message to legislatures and office holders that Religious Freedom needs to be taken seriously when considering laws and statutes."

---