FLASHBACK: Actress Candace Cameron Bure’s Bold Reaction to Gay Cake Controversy on ‘The View’

Things have truly changed in recent months over at ABC’s “The View,” specifically following actress Candace Cameron Bure’s departure from the morning show.

As a conservative and an outspoken Christian, Bure’s views often created an intriguing dynamic when juxtaposed against the perspectives of some of her co-hosts, particularly on issues pertaining to faith and religious freedom.

Thus, after reporting on a recent “The View” segment that featured Christian baker Jack Phillips going back-and-forth with Joy Behar and other hosts over his decision not to make a same-sex wedding cake, we’re flashing-back to a related conversation that unfolded two years ago on the show between Bure and then-fellow co-host Raven Symone.

Contrary to Friday’s segment during which none of the hosts overtly supported or defended Phillips’ decision, a 2015 discussion about a separate case involving Oregon bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein yielded a starkly different reaction from the panel.

The discussion about the Kleins, who were forced to pay $135,000 after declining to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, led Bure and Symone to debate over why they stand on totally different ideological planes.

“It’s the same exact thing that they did back in the day, saying that black people couldn’t do certain things, because, ‘It’s my religious belief,'” Symone proclaimed.

But Bure fervently pushed back against this assessment, saying that she didn’t see the Kleins’ decision as discriminatory.

“This is about freedom of association, it’s about constitutional rights, it’s about First Amendment rights. We do have the right to still choose who we associate with,” Bure responded. “They didn’t refuse to bake the cake because of their sexual orientation … they had a problem with the actual ceremony because that, the ceremony, is what conflicted with their religious beliefs.”

The two continued to go back and forth in what became a headline-making debate before Bure made a call for civility that the nation needs now more than ever: “Here’s the other thing that I really wish we could do, as a society, as a culture, as a country, is to respect that we have opposing views.”

Watch it all unfold below:

Bure, who continues to have a successful acting career starring on Netflix’s “Fuller House,” among other film and TV projects, shocked fans in December when she announced that she would be leaving “The View.”

Her conservative, Christian perspective was one that — at least overtly — was lacking during last week’s debate over Phillips’ cake-making refusal, with the 2015 clip showing how differently Friday’s show could have gone had Bure still been at “The View.”

If you’re interested in more about her perspective on these issues, you can hear what she had to say in a 2015 interview on “The Church Boys” podcast below:

The debate over the balance between First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights (i.e. religious freedom vs. equal protection under the law) forges on, though the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Phillips’ Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case in the fall. This means we’ll likely soon have some legal clarity on the matter.

It’s a complex legal battle that features passionate people on both sides of the divide. Read about all of the legal ramifications here.