Arizona’s Supreme Court handed religious freedom advocates a major victory Monday, ruling that the city of Phoenix cannot force two Christian artists to create custom wedding invitations for same-sex ceremonies.

At issue was a Phoenix ordinance that forbids businesses from denying services to customers based on sexual orientation. Violators could be jailed up to six months and/or fined $2,500 each day they are in violation. 

Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, two Christians who own Brush & Nib Studio, filed suit against the city, saying their religious beliefs prevent them from designing any artwork or wedding invitations for same-sex weddings. Their business creates and designs custom artwork with hand painting, hand lettering and calligraphy. 

The Arizona Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, sided with the women and ruled the city’s ordinance – as applied to Duka and Koski – violates their free speech and religious liberty rights under the Arizona Constitution and their rights protected by the state’s Free Exercise of Religion Act.

“The rights of free speech and free exercise, so precious to this nation since its founding, are not limited to soft murmurings behind the doors of a person’s home or church, or private conversations with like-minded friends and family,” Justice Andrew Gould wrote in the majority decision. “These guarantees…

The former president of Planned Parenthood says the organization is trying to silence her about its work.

Dr. Leana Wen recently sent a letter to the Planned Parenthood board, saying that her severance package also included a confidentiality agreement.

In the letter, which was leaked to the New York Times, Wen said the organization was withholding her severance and some health insurance benefits as what she called “ransom” in exchange for a confidentiality agreement.

“No amount of money can ever buy my integrity and my commitment to the patients I serve,” she said.

“I’m a doctor. I have to be able to speak to my patients about reproductive healthcare. I’m a professor. I have to be able to speak to my students about reproductive healthcare,” Wen said.

Wen was ousted from the top role in July after only serving for eight months.

She says the organization is now operating with a “stridently political, abortion-first philosophy.”

“It is deeply hypocritical [that Planned Parenthood] would attempt to enforce a gag order on its immediate past President/CEO while fighting the Trump administration’s gag rule on Title X providers,” Wen said.

Wen was referring to a Trump administration Title X policy that stipulates that grantees who receive federal funds do not perform or refer for abortions.

Wen, however, said she wasn’t pleased that…

September 15^th, 1963 is a day forever etched into Barbara Cross’ mind as the day that changed everything for her and her family. It was the day of the 16^thStreet Baptist Church Bombing. Ku Klux Klan members had placed a bomb in the basement of the historically African American church earlier that morning. The bombing claimed the lives of four little girls: Denise McNair, Carol Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley.

Cross – whose father had been preaching at the church for just under a year at the time – gathered with dozens of people over the weekend for the 56th anniversary of the attack.

Cross shared with Christian Headlines that she returns to the 16^thStreet Church each year on the anniversary of the bombing “to remember the lives that were taken.”

At this year’s anniversary service, dozens of people from across the country came to remember the lives lost including guest speaker, Former Vice President Joe Biden.

“The church bombing forced us to confirm the truth about ourselves as a nation that day,” Biden said as he spoke over the packed room.

The former Vice President noted how the bombing highlighted the lack of racial equality in the nation, an issue that America is still struggling with today. “My mother had an old saying that one should walk a mile in her shoes to understand her.

“I can never fully understand, as a…

The New York Times has issued a shocking editorial note, undermining what was meant to be a bombshell article detailing new allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court judge, Brett Kavanaugh.

Just hours after a number of Democratic presidential hopefuls cited the piece as a reason to impeach Kavanaugh, the Times was forced to admit that the alleged victim was actually unable to recall the incident at all.

The note reads as follows:

“An earlier version of this article, which was adapted from a forthcoming book, did not include one element of the book’s account regarding an assertion by a Yale classmate that friends of Brett Kavanaugh pushed his penis into the hand of a female student at a drunken dorm party. The book reports that the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident. That information has been added to the article.”

The casual nature of the correction, which effectively admitted that the allegations were baseless, was met with furor online. Indeed, shockingly, the only reason that the New York Times chose to publish the correction was because an author, Mollie Hemmingway, read an advance copy of the book that contained details of the allegations and tweeted her dismay at the fact that the alleged victim said she couldn’t recall it. The book was written by New York Times journalists…

When a Chick-fil-A worker in California saw a man in cardiac arrest last week, he sprinted into action – and helped save the man’s life.

Tauya Nenguke, a 22-year-old man who is a manager of a Chick-fil-A in Chula Vista, Calif., was outside the restaurant last Wednesday evening when he noticed someone on the ground on the other side of the parking lot. At first, he thought the person was having car trouble, but then he realized it was a medical emergency.

The stranger was in cardiac arrest and unconscious, ABC 10 News in San Diego reported.   

Security video footage shows Nenguke running across the parking lot to the stranger, whose friend was trying to help.

“He wasn’t breathing or anything. His eyes were rolled back into his head,” Nenguke said.

Nenguke – who wants to be a nurse and has taken pre-nursing classes – began performing CPR. He also taught the man’s friend how to perform chest compressions. They rotated until paramedics arrived. 

Later, Nenguke learned his actions had saved the man’s life, ABC 10 reported. 

“There wasn’t any hesitation on my part. I knew that was the place where God placed me at that moment,” Nenguke said. “That was truly a real big eye-opener to my calling to be in health care. Because at the moment, it was like instinct took over.”

Nenguke hopes to enroll in a nursing program…

An unlikely kicker for the Chicago Bears is making headlines and thanking God for his success, according to Faithwire.

On Sunday night, 24-year-old Eddy Piñeiro kicked a 53-yard field goal to push the Bears for the win. The Chicago team suffered a rough blow last season after being knocked out of the playoffs with a missed field goal, according to USA Today. The ball ricocheted off of the left upright and bounced off the crossbar, earning the nickname ‘double doink.’ The team became committed to finding a kicker who could bring them back this season.

In his first post-game interview with Fox Sports, Piñeiro said, “For everybody listening, man, if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, you better start, because he’s real. I promise you that.”

Piñeiro seemed an unusual pick this spring for the Bears. After only two seasons with the Florida Gators, he went undrafted last year. But he’s making up for the lost time.

“All offseason long, the story of Chicago was the inability to find a clutch kicker. Today, the story and the answer is you!” a Fox reporter said.

“It felt great,” Piñeiro, who has earned the nickname “Eddy Dinero” by teammates, said in a later interview. “The first thing that came to my mind was just thanking God. It was an emotional kick. My teammates, everyone, just for them, for Chicago, they deserve it.”

Should…

The oldest World War II veteran, Lawrence Brooks, has turned 110 years old this week.

“We absolutely love Mr. Brooks,” National WWII Museum in New Orleans vice president Peter Crean told NOLA.com. “We’ve told him, ‘As long as you keep having birthdays, we are going to keep having birthday parties for you here.’ We consider him ‘our veteran.’”

Starting five years ago, the museum has held birthdays for Brooks every year on September 12. His favorite part is always the attention of the singing trio, The Victory Belles.

The Louisiana veteran served in the Army as part of the predominantly African-American 91st Engineer Battalion from 1940 to 1945, according to Military Times. He was stationed in New Guinea and then the Philippines and served as a servant to three white officers. He reached the rank of private first class during the war and had five children, 13 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren.

“The museum’s mission is to tell the important stories of the men and women who served in World War II,” said Stephen Watson, the president and CEO of the museum. “We are honored to celebrate Lawrence Brooks, whose life and service are filled with such stories of bravery and determination.”

His new age has given him the status of one of the few “supercentenarians” worldwide. “That makes me feel good,” Brooks said….