Stone the Preacher

Sacramento, CA - The California Court of Appeal is considering the constitutionality of a Sacramento-area 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. Although Snatchko had first obtained the shoppers’ permission to broach the subject, a nearby store employee disapproved and called mall security guards, who arrested Snatchko. Criminal charges were later dropped, but attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute filed suit to challenge the mall’s tight restrictions on speech.

Under the mall’s rules, shoppers are not allowed to engage in conversations about potentially controversial topics like religion or politics, unless they already know the person they are talking to. Another mall rule bans the wearing of any clothing with religious or political messages. (more…)

EDINSON, N.J. — A court has issued an order dismissing criminal charges against a New Jersey man whom police arrested after he shared the Gospel on a sidewalk outside a public high school after the end of the school day. At the request of the principal of Edison High School, Robert Parker was taken into custody after his toe touched the grass on the school’s side of the sidewalk. He was charged with trespass and disorderly conduct.

“Christians shouldn’t be arrested and charged as criminals for expressing their beliefs on public property. They have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in America,” said ADF-allied attorney Demetrios Stratis of Fair Lawn. “A person cannot be charged with a crime just because a school official has a complete misunderstanding of the First Amendment or doesn’t like what that person has to say. We are pleased that we prevailed in court in getting these unwarranted criminal charges dropped.” Click here to read the rest from the Allied Defense Fund.

NH Christians arrested, asked: ‘Where is your God now?’

State law against ‘unreasonable or loud’ noise used to arrest Christians sharing gospel but not enforced against town-sponsored concerts

HAMPTON, N.H. — Alliance Defense Fund allied attorneys filed suit Wednesday in federal court on behalf of two Christians arrested for sharing their faith and singing worship songs on a public sidewalk in the Hampton Beach area. Police arrested the two men, charging them under a state law against “unreasonable or loud” noise, but the law has not been used against other much louder activities in the very busy beach district, including bands sponsored by the village precinct to increase business in the area. —From the Alliance Defense Fund, Oct 8, 2009

A principal and an athletic director are facing criminal charges for a lunch-time prayer. Read the rest from OneNewsNow.

***Read about what happened when I prayed illegally at a city council meeting by clicking here.***

If you value the freedom of speech we have in America then please sign this petition from “Focus on the Family Action,” telling the representatives in Washington that you are against the “Hate Crimes” legislation that is currently up before them. Two bills, the Hate Crimes Act and ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) are both designed to ultimately silence any moral opposition to homosexual behavior – thus threatening our Christian beliefs.

If this passes, sharing your Christian faith might become illegal. Click here to read more and to sign the petition.

Last Tuesday I asked you to pray for a Messianic Pastor friend of mine, Rabbi Greg DeValera, as he was heading to Michigan to share his faith with Muslims in Dearborn. Here is the unfortunate result: 

DETROIT, MI - A federal judge has denied an evangelical group’s request for permission to hand out Christian literature on sidewalks at an Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds denied Anaheim, Calif.-based Arabic Christian Perspective’s request for a temporary restraining order. The group describes itself in its court filing as “a national ministry established for the purpose of proclaiming the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ to Muslims …(that) travels around the country attending and distributing Christian literature at Muslim festivals and mosques.” Read the rest here from OneNewsNow.

Archived here: (more…)

I have a friend, Rabbi Greg DeValera, who is a Messianic Jewish Pastor, and he’s heading to Dearborn, Michigan today to share his faith and pass out Bibles to the 300,000 Muslims living in the area, especially at an Arab festival in Dearborn. Read what he wrote to me:

We leave Tuesday morning with a large group from Arabic Christian Perspective (ACP) to head to Dearborn, but even before we board the plane, there is already trouble.

The City of Dearborn has informed ACP that we cannot distribute tracts and Bibles ALONG THE PUBLIC SIDEWALKS of the city around the festival area. Apparently some of the locals who have attended the festival in the past were offended by our activities and have convinced the police that our activities should be restricted. A Christian public-interest law firm sent a letter to Dearborn yesterday informing them of our constitutional rights to do what we plan to do. Nevertheless, the police dept has threatened to arrest us if we attempt to talk to Muslims and give them literature in the public, taxpayer-paid areas of the festival grounds.

Please pray for Rabbi Greg and his team.

A few years back I started a weekly column called “Lost Liberties” after a mission trip to China. I was amazed at the freedoms we have in America—freedoms taken for granted—that the Chinese don’t have to enjoy their Christian faith.

I would post various articles that showed the coming persecution in America and archive them for future reference. Unfortunately, my archive disappeared when the main source of these articles changed their name and website to ONE NEWS NOW, and I lost all the links.

I have noticed, however, that more and more articles of Christian persecution are appearing in many sources, so I am reviving this column again as an archive of the liberties we are losing as Christians in America. If you spot a ”Lost Liberties” article, please send it to me.

 Court Bans Bible from Kindergarten Show-and-Tell

NASHVILLE – Christian broadcasters have vowed to keep preaching the gospel regardless of social, political, or regulatory opposition.

At the first convention of the National Religious Broadcasters since the November election, NRB president Frank Wright said, “The proclamation of the gospel is now opposed at every quarter. In the political arena, in the cultural context, in forces of the regulatory arena and the legislative environment — all these forces today seem to be arrayed against the gospel.”

But Dr. Wright said the NRB board has issued a declaration pledging to “obey the command of Christ to preach the gospel, even if human governments and institutions attempt to oppose, constrain, or prohibit it.” Read the rest here from OneNewsNow.

A well-known street preacher has been convicted of two federal crimes for preaching the gospel on the public sidewalk outside Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

It was back on October 6 last year when Michael Marcavage, director of Repent America, was arrested by National Park rangers for refusing to leave the public sidewalk outside the Liberty Bell Center. He explains what happened:

“I was instructed that I needed to go to the ‘free-speech zone,’ which was on the other side of the Liberty Bell Center, away from the people that we were attempting to speak with and reach with our [gospel] tracts,” says Marcavage. “This was a main thoroughfare where there are, throughout the day, thousands of people that pass by. So this was a prime location for us to be able to witness to as many people as possible.”

On Friday, Marcavage was convicted of two federal offenses, fined $445, and ordered not to return to the National Independence Historic Park for a year without first notifying Park Service officials and obtaining a permit if he planned to engage in any evangelistic activities. Read the rest here at OneNewsNow!

Archived here: (more…)

An organization is taking up a battle in favor of a U.S. Marine who was sent home from an assignment in Iraq because he handed out coins with a Christian message to Muslims in Iraq.

The organization is Christian Freedom International whose president, Jim Jacobson, says the Marine distributed coins with the words of John 3:16 on one side. The other side asked, in Arabic, the question: “Where will you spend eternity?” The soldier is now on home turf awaiting further word on possible punishment. Read the rest here from OneNewsNow.

Archived here. (more…)

The Alliance Defense Fund continues to challenge an Ohio university’s policy that silences Christians on school grounds.
In October 2002, Jim Gilles was witnessing on the campus of Miami University when he was approached by security officers, who told him that without a permit, free speech was not allowed throughout the entire university. Click here to read the rest from One NewsNow!

Archived version:
(more…)

Philadelphia-based street preacher Michael Marcavage has been found guilty of disorderly conduct for proclaiming the gospel in Salem, Massachusetts.

Marcavage is president of Repent America, a ministry that calls America back to its Christian roots. On Halloween night last year, Marcavage was street preaching in Salem, a community also known as “Witch City.” Marcavage was eventually arrested after police charged him with using an amplified megaphone to preach. The charge was later dropped, after lawyers argued that he was arrested before 10:00 p.m. — the hour when the noise ordinance takes effect. However, the Christian activist was found guilty of disorderly conduct. Click here to continue reading!

Click here for archived story. (more…)

The police department in Hastings, Nebraska, has been forbidden by a federal court from interfering with Christians witnessing on public sidewalks. 

Kevin Pulver just wanted to stand on a public sidewalk adjacent to Hastings College and share his faith with anyone who was interested in listening. But according to Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Nate Kellum, local authorities objected to Pulver’s presence and his message.
 
“He met much resistance from the Hastings Police Department,” says Kellum. “They came out there no less than 13 times, coming up with various reasons as to why he could not be there, and finally they threatened him with arrest if he continued to express his faith in public.” To continue reading, click here!

A Texas man can once again freely witness at a public transit station after being told by police that he would first have to buy a ticket if he wanted to share the gospel. Click here to read the rest!

The director of Christian activist group Repent America will be arraigned today in a Philadelphia courtroom on charges of unlawful preaching. Michael Marcavage had been preaching to people on a public sidewalk outside the Liberty Bell Center this past October when he was arrested by officers from the National Park Service. The arrest came after he refused to move to a so-called “free-speech zone” across the street from the building housing the Liberty Bell. The incident occurred during Repent America’s annual pro-life evangelism tour, and according to Marcavage, he was just exercising his constitutional right to free speech.”It’s a very dangerous case and another example of how our nation is headed down this path of destruction when people are not free to speak,” he cautions. “Then we find ourselves in a society in which we’re no longer enjoying the liberties God has bestowed upon our nation.” And it is ironic, he adds, that his right to free speech was challenged in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American freedom.The chief ranger at the site told Marcavage that due to policy changes, freedom of religion and speech are prohibited anywhere on the public park grounds without a permit, and only then if in the free-speech zone. From OneNewsNow.com

Beginning in 2009, the national motto “In God We Trust” will return to the front or back of the $1 coin.

According to the Thomas More Law Center in Michigan, newly minted $1 Presidential coins — under a 2005 law — had relegated the phrase “In God We Trust” to the “virtually unreadable edge of the coin.” The result, says the legal group, is that the national motto “appeared to be merely scratches on the edge, unless one looked for it with a magnifying glass.” But President Bush recently signed into law a massive omnibus spending bill that included legislation returning the national motto to the face of the coin. The “In God We Trust” provision was sponsored by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and newly appointed Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). (Read the rest here from OneNewsNow.)
Read my previous article about this called “The USA: Unsalty. Silent. Apostate.” here.

An attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund says a small Georgia town is being targeted by a liberal group that is trying to intimidate city officials into removing a nativity scene.

Representatives of Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) are offering to defend officials in Dallas, Georgia, against a threatened lawsuit from Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Senior legal counsel for ADF, Mike Johnson, says the liberal group is trying to bully small towns into banning Christmas. (Read the rest here.)

Attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund are offering free legal assistance to officials in a small Arizona community who were threatened with a lawsuit over the town’s Christmas tree.

City leaders in Queen Creek have replaced the name “Christmas” with “holiday” on the community tree after a liberal legal group threatened a lawsuit over the use of “Christmas.”
(Click here to read the rest!)