FILE – This Jan. 22, 2019 file photo shows Christian artists Joanna Duka, front left, and Breanna Koski, front right, outside the Arizona Supreme Court after justices heard arguments over Phoenix’s anti-discrimination ordinance that bars businesses from refusing service to same-sex couples for religion reasons. Duka and Koski, who operate a business that makes invitations and other wedding-related items, had challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance. On Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 the state Supreme Court said the free speech rights of Duka and Koski were violated by the ordinance. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin,File) Another skirmish in the national war over religious liberty ended last week, when the Arizona Supreme Court awarded two Christian commercial artists a partial exemption from Phoenix’s anti-discrimination ordinance . In an opinion column published by RNS on Saturday, the two artists, Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, claim that the ruling means that the city “cannot compel us to imagine and create custom artwork that violates our beliefs.” Actually, that’s not the case. What the court ruled, in a narrow 4-3 decision, was that Duka and Koski cannot be compelled to make wedding invitations with words or symbols that, in the court’s view, signify their approval […]
