Posted on 07/10/2007 6:19:28 PM PDT by monomaniac
ELMIRA, NY, July 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Police arrested seven Christians who were praying prostrate and holding Bibles in a public park where a gay festival was just beginning, WorldNetDaily (WND) reports.
36-year old born again street preacher Julian Raven and his group called the "Magnificent Seven" came to pray at Wisner Park in downtown Elmira the evening before the Southern Tier Pride Festival. After telling the police what they were planning to do, the Christian group was informed that if they went ahead, they would be arrested.
When they tried to enter the public park, a female officer told them, "You're not going to cross the street. You're not going to enter the park and you're not going to share your religion with anybody in this park."
Raven told the officer that she was violating the Constitution. For the first time in his life as a Christian, he said, "I felt now my freedom of speech is threatened or challenged. I was being told I could not share my religion with anybody in that park."
According to their own account, without making any sound or approaching any people, the seven entered the park while lifting up their Bibles, lay face down on the grass before the stage, and were promptly handcuffed by officers in front of homosexual onlookers.
"We weren't protesting or trying to get arrested," Julian says in the Star Gazette. "We were there to pray for their sins. We planned to lay down, pray for a few minutes and leave peacefully. It wasn't our idea to disrupt the rally. But if it happens, it's out of our control."
Raven commented in WND, "We have a legal right to be at an event held in a public square. We're not a hate group," he said. "We're Christians and we're going to be there to pray."
Assistant Police Chief Mike Robertson said they were accused of "disturbing the peace" which includes "intent" to cause a public inconvenience, any "disturbance" of a meeting of persons, obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic, or taking part in "any act that serves no legitimate purpose," WND reports.
Another example of the growing public restrictions on free speech was the case of Pastor Holick in Wichita, Kansas. Holick was arrested only minutes after he and his church team arrived to hand out pamphlets on a sidewalk near the park where a gay fest was being held. Similarly, this June five members of the Faith Baptist Church were arrested in Petersburg, Florida, after carrying gay pride protesting signs that violated city regulations by being "wider than their torsos."
Read WorldNetDaily coverage: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56544
Read related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Freedom of Speech Rights for Christian Pastors Confronting Gay Pride Upheld in Pennsylvania http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06052408.html
Media Labels Pastor 'Gay-Hating' for Preaching Against Homosexuality http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06091302.html
Attack on Religious Freedom Begins in Earnest in Canada - Battleground Homosexuality http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/oct/06100601.html
Christian Arrested for Distributing Bible Quotes Opposing Homosexuality http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06090703.html
Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
So - if it had been a Christian gathering in the PUBLIC park, and homosexual advocates decided they were going to go to the park and even quietly “protest” in whatever way they intend, would they automatically be barred from the Constitutional rights?
I doubt it...
Now - did this guy and his followers do this to get attention - quite possibly. But on the other hand, if all they did was enter the park carrying Bibles, lay down and pray (quietly at that), then exactly what law were they breaking?
If you don’t want the public to show up for your event, don’t have it in a public park.
“How come Fred Phelps never gets arrested??”
I think he’s really working for the athiests. He obviously tries to make Christians look like jerks.
No flameproof underwear needed here. But say that on DU on the other hand....
;-)
To be more historically accurate, the first amendment outlaws establishment of religion by congress, and guarantees religious freedom unfettered by congress, but it didn’t at first prevent states like Massachusetts from establishing a particular religion within the state.
Christmas was outlawed in Massachusetts until late in the 19th century, and factory workers were forced to go to work on that day by their Puritan bosses.
But those few states which did that sort of thing gradually moved to imitate the religious freedom clause of the federal government. I believe that is true of New York.
Free speech for me but not for thee...
I’m glad Christian activists are doing more to confront anti-God, anti-American, anti-family, anti-decency, anti-freedom fags.
i agree with # 19
and our last 2 sermons were on Ephesians 6:11 - 19
Fred Phelps never gets arrested presumably because he flashes his ACLU card when approached by law enforcement personnel.
Thank you for the reference. Can’t get much plainer than that, can you? I particularly like the way it starts: “Woe to those....
yer welcome.
see post # 16 for more info...
“any act that serves no legitimate purpose.” Sounds like gay Marriage doesn’t it?
“You’re not going to share your religion with anyone in this park.” Those are the magic words by which the officer will be hung by.
Being arrested in America for praying... something I didn’t think would happen in my lifetime.
Same with Rush Limppaw and Sean Mancandy. They don’t have the guts to talk about stuff like this either.
“You’re not going to share your religion with anyone in this park.”
that’s our whole job in life.
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