Anti-LGBT baker tells Fox News that Jesus 'wants me' to deny cakes to gay couples

A Colorado baker on Tuesday told Fox & Friends host Elisabeth Hasselbeck that he would be willing to go to jail after a judge ordered him to serve gay couples, saying that opposing same sex marriage is "who I am."

Last week, administrative law judge Robert N. Spencer ruled that Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips must "cease and desist from discriminating" against LGBT couples because he refused to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple last year.

On Tuesday, Hasselbeck welcomed the baker in a Fox & Friends "Death of Free Enterprise" segment, including friendly screen titles like "Bake Shop Shakedown" and "So Much For Freedom."

"Does becoming a business owner mean you have to check your convictions at the door?" Hasselbeck asked. "Why is it important for you to have a business and not have to abandon personal religious beliefs just to make a buck?"

"I believe that's what God's designed for me to do," Phillips explained.

Attorney Nicolle Martin, who is representing Phillips, added that "if the government can force you to violate your beliefs under the threat of a jail sentence, there's really no freedom they can't take away, Elisabeth."

For his part, Phillips pledged that he would go to jail before selling a wedding cake to gay or lesbian couple.

"You know, if that's what it takes," he said. "It's not like I have chosen this team or that team. This is who I am, it's what I believe."

"Do you feel as though you are forfeiting your own rights and being forced, in other words, to participate in their wedding by making a cake for them?" Hasselbeck wondered.

"They would be taking away my rights to do what I do as a business owner, as an American citizen," Phillips insisted. "And as a follower of Jesus Christ, I don't believe that's what he wants me to do. And so my priorities would be towards my faith rather than towards my safety or security."

"We wish you well," Hasselbeck said in conclusion.

Watch this video from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Dec. 10, 2013.