Stone the Preacher

Over the last few weeks I posted about how one of our local Bible Study leaders from Hope Chapel, Hermosa Beach, was stopped from conducting his study in one of the meeting rooms of a local library because of a L.A. County administrator’s misunderstanding of the term “separation of church and state.” I followed up this “misunderstanding” with an email to our lawyer, he wrote a letter and, like magic, the matter was resolved.

The Bible Study leader is a humble, gracious and unassuming man of God who was willing to let the whole matter slide, but I encouraged him to let me pursue this because if we didn’t, they might forbid other Christian groups from meeting in their private rooms, too. He agreed.

Here’s the kind email he sent to me (used with his permission): (more…)

On Thursday I posted about how one of our local Bible studies held in a local library was halted due to an errant County Administrator’s misunderstanding of what separation of church and state meant. We contacted our lawyer, then things changed. (Read about the incident here.)

Here’s what happened: (more…)

Over the last several years I’ve posted about Christians in the U. S. being harassed by police and government officials for standing up for their faith by preaching, handing out Gospel tracts or by simply having a Bible study. Mostly these posts have been about other people in other states; this time, it’s about what happened in our own church….

In addition to being the evangelism pastor at Hope Chapel, Hermosa Beach, I also oversee nearly fifty Bible studies that meet in various locations around our community. One of these studies was held in the City of Hawthorne Library. The leader was offered a room to meet in, free of charge, so that he, his wife, and a few others could read through the Gospel of Mark over a period of eight weeks using a book called “One to One Bible Reading” by David Helm.

And they did. For one week.

The second week of their meeting, the Library Administrator informed the Bible Study leader that because of the separation of church and state, they could no longer meet in their private room. They were, however, welcome to meet off to the side in a corner of the library on a first come, first served basis.

I told the leader that we had to fight this because what the administrator told him was wrong. It is against the law to forbid a group from holding a Bible study in a public library!

I called our lawyer. He wrote a letter. It  got results. Quickly.

Here’s what it said: (more…)

PHOENIX – The City of Phoenix could face a lawsuit if the city doesn’t apologize to a Valley woman for telling her she could not hand out free bottled water to people in the summer heat.

Dana Crow-Smith said a City of Phoenix worker came up to her during the First Friday festival in downtown Phoenix last month and told her she was violating city code by handing out free water because she did not have a permit.

Crow-Smith and a group of others were there exercising their Christian beliefs by engaging people to talk about religion if they wanted.

The group brought several cases of bottled water to give away in the 112-degree heat, but said a Neighborhood Preservation Inspector told the group they had to stop handing out the water or would be cited.

“It was really hot and yeah we wanted to show God’s love and a small act of kindness is a great way to do that without shoving it down someone’s throat,” said Crow-Smith. Read the rest here.

A various smattering of articles recently in the news about attempted suppression of religious freedom. Christian religious freedom.

Judge Says Man Can’t Hand Out Bibles at Twin Cities Pride Fest

A Wisconsin man who wants to hand out Bibles at the 40th Annual Twin Cities Pride festival in Loring Park this month will have to confine himself to a booth just outside of the event.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis issued a 41-page order Monday denying Brian Johnson’s request for an injunction that would force the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to allow him unfettered access to the festival grounds, reasoning that his constitutional challenge was unlikely to succeed. Read the rest by clicking here.

But wait! I just found this good news! Click here to read it.

North Carolina Prosecutor Drops Charge Against Missionary Arrested for Telling Officers to ‘Repent’

The criminal charge that was filed against a missionary who told police officers to repent on Independence Day has been dismissed.

Jesse Boyd of Full Proof Gospel Ministries had attended a fireworks display in a public park in Holly Ridge, North Carolina on the Fourth of July with fellow missionary Ricky Springer at the invitation of a local Christian. The two began distributing tracts to attendees, and then before the fireworks display began, Springer decided to preach in the open air. Read the rest here.

Jail Time for Phoenix Man Who Hosted Bible Study at His Home

A Phoenix man who held weekly Bible studies at his home has had the book thrown at him over the religious gatherings. Michael Salman (pictured above) has been sentenced to two months in jail and more than $12,000 in fines because the group sessions at his home were against the city’s building code.

“They’re cracking down on religious activities and religious use,” Salman told Fox News Radio. “They’re attacking what I as a Christian do in the privacy of my home.” Read the rest here.

Ryan Arneson started visiting South Mountain Community College in 2009 to hand out tracts and talk to students about Jesus. The busy urban campus, in southern Phoenix, was a perfect venue for sidewalk evangelism. Campus administrators approved Arneson’s visits ahead of time and even escorted him to a patio table in front of the school’s library where he could easily interact with students and visitors making their way across campus.

For the next 18 months, Arneson came back to the campus regularly and never had any problems with the students or school officials. But in January 2011, when Arneson again requested permission to visit the school during the upcoming semester, administrators told him the school had a new solicitation policy.

If Arneson wanted to continue visiting campus, he would have to pay $50 a day or $125 a week for the privilege of expressing his views in public. Click to read the rest.

Citing Infringements on Rights of Street Preachers, Rutherford Institute Attorneys Present Oral Arguments in Noise Ordinance Case

WINCHESTER, Va.— Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute will present oral arguments on Wednesday, August 17, 2011, before the Federal District Court for the Western District of Virginia in favor of a motion for summary judgment in Marcavage v. City of Winchester on behalf of a group of street preachers who were prevented from using a microphone to speak about their religious beliefs at a community street festival. (more…)

Here’s an update from a post about a month ago.

Advocates for Faith & Freedom recently filed a lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol when three men from Hemet, California, were arrested for reading the Bible out loud in front of the DMV. The facts are indisputable because the entire arrest was recorded. The video of the arrest can be found here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FruQO8qaw9c). All that is missing from this video is approximately 25 minutes of Bible reading from various Bible passages. There was no disturbance and no preaching – just pure Bible reading. However, this case has created quite a controversy thanks, in part, to media coverage from a broad range of media, from local newspapers to Glenn Beck on the Fox News Channel.

The Controversy Begins

Many non-Christians are offended by the teachings of the Bible, so hearing the Bible read in public is especially disturbing to them. II Corinthians 2:14-16 speaks of this reality where it says that the Gospel is like the aroma of death to the unbeliever, but life to the believer. Additionally, many Christians are disturbed by the fact that we filed this case because they strongly disagree with the method of evangelism used by these men – reading the Bible aloud to persons who were waiting in line for the DMV to open.

On the other hand, most people who support our lawsuit are equally disturbed by the officer’s complete disregard of the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourth Amendment right to be free from arrest unless the arresting officer has reasonable belief that a crime was committed. (more…)

San Diego, CA – A former student at Gateway East High School of the Grossmont Union High School District has filed suit against GUHSD, saying he was disciplined and suspended for sharing his faith with fellow students and for bringing his Bible to school. The student is represented by Pacific Justice Institute.

The conflict for Kenneth Dominguez began when he returned from Christmas break in January 2010 and began telling his fellow students about his Christian faith. On several occasions he was reprimanded for doing so and eventually he was told not to bring his Bible to school.  (more…)

Jay Leno said this: “Al-Qaida is planning Christmas attacks in the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. government sprang into action and told al-Qaeda, “Hey, you cannot call them Christmas attacks, you have to call them holiday attacks.”

*****

But seriously, folks…

PERKINS, Okla. — A small-town bank in Oklahoma said the Federal Reserve won’t let it keep religious signs and symbols on display.

Federal Reserve examiners come every four years to make sure banks are complying with a long list of regulations. The examiners came to Perkins last week. And the team from Kansas City deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say “Merry Christmas, God With Us.” were inappropriate. The Bible verse of the day on the bank’s Internet site also had to be taken down. Click here to read the rest

WAIT! Click here to read about how everything changed
when a little pressure was applied!

Here is an article from the website of The Daily Pennsylvanian concerning the evangelists who were arrested while preaching outside a mosque on a public sidewalk that I posted on Tuesday. (Michael Marcavage, one of the evangelists arrested, contacted me personally about my post. See his comments from the Tuesday article here.)

Two evangelical Christian missionaries plan to file a federal suit against the University of Pennsylvania for what the missionaries said was an infringement upon their right to proselytize. Read the rest here.

***Here’s more info on the evangelists arrested at the Dearborn, Michigan Arab-American Festival. Hmmm, I’m beginning to see a pattern….

This falls into the “What did you expect?” category. For the record, I wouldn’t do what these evangelists did. What’s interesting is that one of the men in this group is a friend of mine, Mike “Mad Mike” Stockwell, who was profiled here a couple of years ago when I first met him at the Ambassadors’ Academy. (Read about him here.)

This is a press release from “Repent America,” so the coverage will be, of course, one-sided.

PHILADELPHIA - Two Christian evangelists plead “not guilty” yesterday to false charges relating to their arrest for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ at Philadelphia’s largest Islamic mosque over the Fourth of July weekend. Their case now heads to trial.

One of the nation’s top legal teams regarding civil and religious rights has stepped into a dispute stemming from an Arab Festival in Dearborn, Mich., where police are accused of enforcing Islamic law.

“Officers arrested four Christian missionaries and illegally confiscated their video cameras, which were recording the events surrounding their arrests,” said a statement today from the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Officials in the police department with the city of Dearborn declined to comment to WND.

But the law-center announcement said the incident has been described as “police enforcement of Shariah law.” The organization said it would represent the Christians.

“These Christian missionaries were exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion, but apparently the Constitution carries little weight in Dearborn, where the Muslim population seems to dominate the political apparatus,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center. Read the rest here.

A Wake-Up Call

Now read this perspective from Michael Youseff at OneNewsNow: Every freedom-loving person should be extremely alarmed at the dreadful trend of silencing Christians from the streets of London to the streets of Dearborn, Michigan.  In both places, Christians were arrested and imprisoned for preaching the gospel on public streets…in what Muslims considered to be Islamic territories. (more…)

Mall’s “Don’t Talk to Strangers” Rule
to be Argued Monday in Court of Appeals

Sacramento, CA – The California Court of Appeals will hear arguments Monday in a case testing the validity of a shopping mall’s attempt to prevent adult patrons from talking to each other about hot-button topics such as religion and politics.

The case arose after a youth pastor, Matthew Snatchko, was arrested at the Roseville Galleria Mall in 2007 for striking up a casual conversation with two other shoppers about faith. (more…)