Swordsmyth
12-04-2018, 08:51 PM
It’s not yet like the Romans throwing Christians to the lions for practicing their faith, but the Phoenix government may be throwing them in jail — for refusing to service same-sex “weddings.” It’s a shocking reality that inspired two Arizona Christian artists to sue the city in 2016, and now their case will be taken up by their state’s supreme court.
Breanna Koski and Joanna Duka are the owners of Brush & Nib Studio, a business born of the goal to recreate “the beauty God placed all around us and to share that beauty with others. And this goal made it natural for Joanna and Breanna to focus on artwork for weddings, one of the most beautiful days in someone’s life,” relates (https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/case-details/brush-nib-studio-v.-city-of-phoenix) the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the artists.
While the women’s case is preemptive — they haven’t yet had a complaint filed against them — history informs that it’s only a matter of time. Christian bakers and other businessmen in certain states have been already fined exorbitant sums, $135,000 in one case (https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/christian-bakers-fined-135000-for-refusing-to-make-wedding-cake-for-lesbians), and have even put out of business for refusing to be party to faux weddings.
Yet when the artists investigated what could befall them in their locality, what “they found was worse than they imagined. A Phoenix law required Brush & Nib to create invitations and other artwork for same-sex wedding ceremonies. It also prevented Brush & Nib from explaining to customers and the public why they could only create art consistent with their beliefs about marriage. And this law did all this through criminal penalties,” according to the ADF.
In fact, the ADF claims, “For each day Joanna and Breanna followed their religious beliefs and disobeyed the law, they would each be penalized up to $2500 and six months in jail.” (Emphasis in original.)
The Arizona Court of Appeals already ruled against the artists in June, and the state’s supreme court is expected to take up their case next year.
More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/30816-americans-can-now-be-jailed-for-not-servicing-same-sex-weddings
Breanna Koski and Joanna Duka are the owners of Brush & Nib Studio, a business born of the goal to recreate “the beauty God placed all around us and to share that beauty with others. And this goal made it natural for Joanna and Breanna to focus on artwork for weddings, one of the most beautiful days in someone’s life,” relates (https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/case-details/brush-nib-studio-v.-city-of-phoenix) the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the artists.
While the women’s case is preemptive — they haven’t yet had a complaint filed against them — history informs that it’s only a matter of time. Christian bakers and other businessmen in certain states have been already fined exorbitant sums, $135,000 in one case (https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/christian-bakers-fined-135000-for-refusing-to-make-wedding-cake-for-lesbians), and have even put out of business for refusing to be party to faux weddings.
Yet when the artists investigated what could befall them in their locality, what “they found was worse than they imagined. A Phoenix law required Brush & Nib to create invitations and other artwork for same-sex wedding ceremonies. It also prevented Brush & Nib from explaining to customers and the public why they could only create art consistent with their beliefs about marriage. And this law did all this through criminal penalties,” according to the ADF.
In fact, the ADF claims, “For each day Joanna and Breanna followed their religious beliefs and disobeyed the law, they would each be penalized up to $2500 and six months in jail.” (Emphasis in original.)
The Arizona Court of Appeals already ruled against the artists in June, and the state’s supreme court is expected to take up their case next year.
More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/30816-americans-can-now-be-jailed-for-not-servicing-same-sex-weddings