I have been sounding the alarm about the dangers of "hate crimes" laws and how they would subsequently destroy free speech rights for quite some time now. I warned that such bogus laws would target, and attempt to completely destroy, the free speech rights of Christians who desire to protest against the militant agenda of homosexual radical groups.
Now, in this spurious, unconstitutional ruling, we see how radical, activist judges can
illegally use their power in order to punish those with whom the secular progressives disagree! Can anyone agree that
"I told you so" is in order here? In addition, as the article points out, we must ask what type of freedom of speech would be next to go?? What is this? Gay agenda anarchy or what??
This is more than just stifling of free speech. It is also an attempt for the judicial part of our government to side with the liberal left agenda and prohibit the use of the Bible and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while, at the same time promoting an illegal double whammy of pressing, and forcing, a kind of "thought police" mentality towards homosexual issues in public places.
This is outrageous, people!!
Could you imagine if a conservative judge (not that one actually ever would!) decided to squelch the free speech rights of the anti-war activists a few weeks ago because he/she didn't like
their message?? Again, not that such a judge ever would do that, but can you now recognize how this illustrates the total hypocrisy of the wacky, liberal judge who just did that very same thing to the Christian group?
I sincerely hope that the Alliance Defense Fund gets ahold of this case on appeal. This was truly an
absolute travesty of justice!
Christine
*******
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
TESTING THE FAITH
'Philadelphia 11' told 'gays' limited speech
Judge's ruling says permit allows biblical messages to be restricted
Posted: February 14, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com-->© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A new federal court decision in the case of the Philadelphia Eleven could send Christians' free speech rights another step towards extinction, according to group members who have been told police officers had a right to silence their biblical messages at a public homosexual festival.
The decision came in a civil rights lawsuit brought by members of that team, including
Repent America director Michael Marcavage, who sued the city and a homosexual-festival sponsor after group members were cleared of criminal charges for their actions at the 2004 "Gay Pride" public street festival in the downtown area.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel dismissed their civil rights claim, concluding that a "permit" granted by the city to the homosexuals allowed police to silence the Christian activists' message on public streets.
"The law requires the police to control the crowd and to deal with those acting disorderly, not tell us that we're not permitted to be there," Marcavage said.
The judge's precedent would allow police to arrest anyone at any public gathering simply because they have what the judge called "a contrary message," raising speculation that Republicans could be arrested at a Democrat "festival" and competitors could be arrested at a commercially-sponsored "festival."
Marcavage called it a restriction on time, place and manner. But in the application to a commercial festival sponsorship, it could be assumed that having a discussion about Chevies at a Ford-sponsored event could be prohibited.
"You can't talk about Chevies; you couldn't even have Chevies parked on the streets," he said.
"It is without question that Judge Stengel's decision has set a precedent to eliminate the First Amendment rights of others by citing that a 'permitting scheme' can be used by police and event organizers to 'exclude persons expressing contrary messages' in public areas and at public events," Marcavage said.
"It is for this reason that his ruling is especially troubling and must be overturned," he continued. "Christians must be free to speak the truths of God's Word, warn the wicked, and to preach the Gospel in the public square without interference from government, and therefore, we will continue to battle for these God-given liberties by appealing this decision."
He said the appeal will be pursued in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, because otherwise Christians will be "left in a position here that will affect the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, because this decision will be binding."
Rev. Ted Pike,
of the National Prayer Network, campaigns against such "hate crimes" and "hate speech" plans, and is warning there actually is a federal plan that could be used to make criminals of any Christian who speaks Biblical messages.
"The David Ray Hate Crimes Prevention Act is now before the House Judiciary Committee. If it's signed into federal law, the Philly Eleven incident won't be a freak injustice of American history. Instead, it will be the unheeded first raindrop of a downpour of anti-Christian arrests and lawsuits submerging Christianity in the years ahead," Pike has written.
He said the dismissal of the civil rights complaint means that "the Philly Eleven were wrong in exercising free speech in what had become a no-free speech zone."
He said the federal plan "would eventually allow government 'thought police' to push aside states' rights in law enforcement. Such laws would allow federal indictment of Christian 'haters' in every state of the Union…"
"It would become a federal crime … to show bias against protected groups [including] homosexuals. However, deviant groups such as witches, Satanists, pedophiles, abortionists, and even 'sinners' could quickly catch a ride on the bandwagon of federal protection from the 'hate' of biblically oriented criticism," he said.
The U.S. requirement that there is physical evidence of a crime before an arrest is made could be abandoned, and the only criteria of guilt in a hate crimes case could be "whether the feelings of a member of a federally protected group have been hurt," he said.
Pike's
Hate Laws Exposed website is a primary resource center for information on "anti-hate" laws.
The decision by Stengel granted summary judgment to the city of Philadelphia and
"Philly Pride Presents, Inc."Siding with the defendants, Stengel said police were permitted to discriminate against the Christians because of "safety concerns" coupled with Philly Pride's permit from the city to hold the $10,000 taxpayer-funded celebration of homosexuality on public streets.
The judge couldn't escape the facts that "the activity in question took place in a public forum," and "there is no doubt that the venue for OutFest, a designated section of streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia, was a public place," but despite that he found that through the permit OutFest "was empowered to enforce the permit by excluding persons expressing contrary messages."
"Obviously, we are very disappointed," said Ted Hoppe, a lawyer for the Philadelphia Eleven. "We believe that the law clearly supports the rights of the plaintiffs in this case, as well as all individuals, to be able to engage in free speech activities in public streets and sidewalks.
"We do not believe," he continued, "that the fact that there was an event also taking place, even with a permit, diminishes that right."
"I cannot even begin to comprehend what Judge Stengel's thought process was in making this decision," said Marcavage. "This ruling was entirely unexpected considering that all the evidence has been overwhelmingly in our favor, complete with video documentation, not to mention the fact that all 11 of us were vindicated of any wrongdoing in criminal court."
The case dates back to 2004,
as WND reported, when on Oct. 10, six men and five women with Repent America, now established as the Philadelphia Eleven, were arrested while ministering on the public streets and sidewalks of Philadelphia during the "OutFest."
Before they were arrested, they had been confronted by a mob of homosexuals calling themselves the "Pink Angels," who blew loud whistles and carried large pink signs to block the Christians' message and access to the event. Other screamed obscenities at the Christians.
Philadelphia officers, under the supervision of Chief Inspector James Tiano, a department "liaison to the gay and lesbian community," refused to take any action against the homosexuals over the harassment, instead taking the Christians to jail.
They were there 21 hours before Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham's office charged them with "Ethnic Intimidation" among other counts under the state's "hate crimes law."
Penalties could have ranged to 47 years in prison and fines of $90,000, but Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe dismissed the criminal charges as being without merit. The civil rights lawsuit by the Christians then followed.
What many people found disturbing was the fact that months earlier, Stengel had refused to dismiss the OutFest organizer from the lawsuit, concluding that "Plaintiffs have pleaded sufficient facts to infer a conspiracy between the Philly Pride Defendants and the other defendants … to deprive Plaintiffs of their constitutional rights."
At that time Hoppe noted that the city's actions "demonstrated a clear hostility toward Repent America and the content of their message."
Repent America is a group that "desires to be in the full Will of God and to adhere entirely to the teachings of the Bible."
"As Christians, we know that there is a literal hell and a lake of fire where the unsaved will burn for all eternity; therefore, we act upon this truth without reservation and GO OUT into the streets and communities of America declaring the Word of God and proclaiming the Good News. We must go out to where the sinners are. We must go to those who would never come into our churches – to the atheists, to the religious, to the self-righteous, to the God-hating and win their souls to Christ," its website says.
"For so long, as followers of Christ, we have allowed Satan to invade our communities through abortuaries, the entertainment and pornography industries, religious institutions, sexually perverse establishments, homosexual parades and other sin celebrations without a word from the Christians therein. God has called us to 'Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression…" (Isaiah 58.1)"
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'Philly 11' win round against 'gay' groupPhilly group to protest 'Outfest' againJudge drops all charges against Philly ChristiansJudge rules against Christians who preached to homosexuals'Philly 5' win 1 in courtChristian group gets obscene, hateful messagesHate-crimes law infringes on 1st Amendment?Benefit concert planned for 'Philadelphia 5'Motion filed for Philadelphia protesters'Philadelphia 5' arrests like 'Christian Rodney King'Homosexuals planned Christian harassment17-year-old girl part of 'Philadelphia 5'U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians?Philadelphia accused of 'abuse of power'Prosecutor: Bible is 'fighting words'City will prosecute Christian protesters'Philadelphia 11' fighting back11 Christians arrested at homosexual eventThis is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. To view this item online, visit
WorldNetDaily ArticleHT: WorldNetDaily
[ 2/16/07 Update: Good News! The Alliance Defense Fund has agreed to appeal Philadelphia 11 free speech limits!]*******
In a related matter, just see what the "legalization" and implementation of "gay" marriage would result in if it was passed in all states. Massachusetts parents are having their rights taken away from them in regards to teaching homosexuality in the public schools.
Read this article about the ongoing David Parker case.Note these excerpts:
The elementary curriculum promoting homosexuality, he said, was specifically intended to change a child's outlook of the world to something that his parents didn't teach him.
An ACLU lawyer, however, told the judge that "it is a tremendous bonus" for children to be given information of which their parents wouldn't approve, and that teaching children homosexuality when their parents' Biblical beliefs do not support that has nothing to do with a violation of religious freedom, according to the MassResistance.org reports.
"David Parker's dilemma … threatens the parental rights and religious freedom of every Massachusetts parent, and indirectly every parent in America," said John Haskins of the Parents' Rights Coalition.
"As the Lexington schools themselves are arguing, the state's right to force pro-homosexuality indoctrination on other people's children arises directly from former Gov. Mitt Romney's nakedly false and unconstitutional declaration that homosexual marriage is now legal."
Note how similar arguments used by homosexual activists in front of
The European Human Rights Court led to terrible results against a family in Germany:
The arguments on behalf of homosexuals were remarkably similar to a recent European court's conclusion.
The European Human Rights Court several months ago concluded in a case involving similar objections that parents do not have an "exclusive" right to lead their children's education and any parental "wish" to have their children grow up without adverse influences "could not take priority over compulsory school attendance."
That court said a German family had no right to provide homeschooling for their children. The family had argued the public school endangered their children's religion beliefs and violated the family's Christian faith.
Irrelevant, said the court. "The parents' right to education did not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience," it said.
"The (German) Federal Constitutional Court stressed the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society," the European ruling said.
In Germany, the situation has continued to deteriorate for homeschoolers, with one 15-year-old student recently being taken into custody by a SWAT team and ordered by a judge to a psychiatric ward of a hospital because she was being homeschooled. WND's latest update on that situation has confirmed authorities now have removed the teen from the psych ward, and she has been taken to a location that is being withheld from her parents and lawyer.
Appalled yet???Check out these previous stories, too:Previous stories:
'Gay' groups: We have rights to your children!Families file federal suit over 'gay' readingsTeacher reads 2nd-graders story about 'gay' weddingDistrict lifts ban on parent over pro-'gay' bookCharges dropped against jailed dadTrial over pro-'gay' book set to beginNo notice to parents in 'diversity' classesDad on trial over homosexual bookFather faces trial over school's 'pro-gay' book
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