Federal court grants victory to evangelists escorted from Arab festival
October 30, 2015
In an 8-7 decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that local police violated the First Amendment rights of Christian evangelists at an Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan.
In 2012, members of Bible Believers, a Protestant group, traveled to the Arab International Festival, where they held up signs such as “Islam Is A Religion of Blood and Murder” and “Turn or Burn.” In addition, according to the court decision, “one of the Bible Believers carried a severed pig’s head on a spike.”
The court ruled that local police, by escorting the Bible Believers from the festival, “effectuated a constitutionally impermissible heckler’s veto by allowing an angry mob of riotous adolescents to dictate what religious beliefs and opinions could and could not be expressed.”
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Further information:
- Christian evangelists win Michigan speech case over Arab festival (Reuters)
- 6th Circuit En Banc: 1st Amendment Protects Christian Proselytizers At Dearborn's Arab International Festival (Religion Clause)
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