June 2017 Persecution Magazine
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Art Studio Threatened with Jail<br />
Time over Forced LGBT Support<br />
Phoenix, Arizona, art studio is in the<br />
A appeals stage of their fight to protect<br />
their right to religious conscience. Joanna<br />
Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush<br />
& Nib studio, filed a pre-enforcement lawsuit<br />
in May 2016 against a Phoenix nondiscrimination<br />
ordinance that forces them to<br />
use their business products to promote gay<br />
marriage ceremonies.<br />
The Superior Court of Maricopa County<br />
rejected their suit on September 19, 2016.<br />
Last month, Duka and Koski, represented<br />
by the Alliance Defending Freedom<br />
(ADF), filed an appeal to a higher court<br />
in Arizona which would have the power<br />
to protect the plaintiffs from possible jail<br />
time, if they were to be prosecuted for<br />
running their business in line with their<br />
deeply held religious beliefs.<br />
Jonathan Scruggs, the ADF attorney<br />
leading the suit, issued a press release<br />
stating: “Artists shouldn’t be threatened<br />
with jail time and other penalties simply<br />
for making art that is consistent with their<br />
beliefs. That’s why we asked the court to<br />
suspend enforcement of the Phoenix ordinance<br />
against our clients while their case<br />
goes forward.”<br />
PERSECU ION.org<br />
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN<br />
Houston Health Care<br />
Company Fires Catholic<br />
Immigrant Because of<br />
Religious Conviction<br />
A<br />
lexia<br />
Palma, a young Catholic woman<br />
from Guatemala who used to work at<br />
a Houston inner-city health clinic, has been<br />
fired for her beliefs. In her position at the<br />
clinic, she taught several classes, including<br />
a short course entitled “Becoming a Mom.”<br />
One of the classes in the course involved<br />
teaching about birth control. Because the<br />
Catholic Church opposes birth control, Palma<br />
asked to show a video instead of teaching the<br />
class so that she would not have to violate her<br />
religious convictions.<br />
This accommodation was permitted for<br />
approximately 18 months until a new manager<br />
told Palma to teach the class or she would<br />
be fired. Even though teaching the class<br />
constituted less than two percent of her job<br />
and other employees were happy to teach the<br />
class in her stead, the new manager denied<br />
religious accommodation and fired her.<br />
On December 21, 2016, Palma’s lawyers<br />
at the First Liberty Institute filed a<br />
complaint with the US Equal Employment<br />
Opportunity Commission, charging her<br />
employer, Legacy Community Health, with<br />
religious discrimination.<br />
Street Preachers Face Six<br />
Months in Jail for Quoting<br />
from the Bible<br />
S<br />
treet preachers Mike Overd and Michael<br />
Stockwell were convicted in March by<br />
a court in the United Kingdom for allegedly<br />
acting in a “disorderly” manner and using<br />
“abusive language.” Their “abusive language”<br />
consisted of quoting the Bible and discussing<br />
it with passersby.<br />
Andrea Williams of the Christian Legal<br />
Centre, which is funding their defense, said<br />
that an appeal has been filed. “We’ll take this<br />
all the way to the European Court if we have<br />
to,” Williams told LifeSiteNews. “Today’s ruling,<br />
in effect, states that Bible is offensive and<br />
contains illegal speech which should not be<br />
shared in public.”<br />
Williams continued, “The Bible and its<br />
teachings are the foundation of our society<br />
and provided many of the freedoms and<br />
protections that we still enjoy today. So it is<br />
extraordinary that the prosecution, speaking<br />
on behalf of the state, could say that the Bible<br />
contains abusive words which, when spoken in<br />
public, constitute a criminal offense.”<br />
Anti-Catholic Law Used to<br />
Discriminate Against Christian<br />
Schools<br />
I<br />
n<br />
2012, The Trinity Lutheran Church<br />
Learning Center, a Christian preschool in<br />
Missouri, wanted to improve its playground<br />
surface, which consisted of gravel and grass.<br />
To facilitate the needed upgrades, the school<br />
applied to a state program that provides grants<br />
to use recycled shredded tires to make the playground<br />
surface safer.<br />
Trinity Lutheran submitted a project proposal<br />
to the state, but was denied solely due to the fact<br />
that the school is connected with a church. An<br />
old anti-Catholic law on the books in many states<br />
called the “Blaine Amendment” prohibits the use<br />
of any state funds for projects that may benefit<br />
a religion. However, non-religious organizations<br />
are able to receive funds. The effect of this law is<br />
to penalize taxpayers who happen to be involved<br />
with religious institutions that seek state funds.<br />
The Supreme Court heard the case on April 19,<br />
<strong>2017</strong>, and will issue its decision later this year.<br />
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