Philadelphia Judge On Target in Ruling on Christian Protestors, Says Attorney
by Allie Martin
February 23, 2005
(AgapePress) - An attorney in Mississippi says the decision by a Philadelphia judge to dismiss all charges against a group of Christians who were arrested for witnessing outside a "gay pride" event shows that free speech does not guarantee that some people won't be offended by what they hear.
Last week, Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe dismissed all charges against 11 Christians who were arrested in October for preaching on public sidewalks at the pro-homosexual "Outfest" taking place in Philadelphia. Dembe ruled that peaceful expressive activities like those of the Christian demonstrators, all members of the group Repent America, are fully protected by the First Amendment. (See related article)
Brian Fahling is an attorney with the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy (CLP), which regularly defends the constitutional rights of Christians in courtrooms around the country. Fahling says Judge Dembe made it clear that speech is not considered unconstitutional just because someone is offended.
"And she pointed out [that] in the 1960s ... some anti-segregationists [who] were demonstrating in favor of integration were arrested," the attorney explains, "and she said that was unpopular speech then -- but it's not today." Continuing, Fahling says the ruling demonstrates that "simply because you don't like what somebody says, you can't, under the First Amendment, suppress that speech."
Brian Fahling | |
One Pennsylvania group had taken issue with what it interpreted as the judge's comparison of the Repent America representatives to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. But Dembe, Fahling says, was "even-handed" in her comments about Christians."She was a very careful judge in her remarks in the sense not to offend the homosexuals who were there, and certainly not going after the Christians who were on trial," he explains. "So I think that Judge Dembe actually was fairly even-handed in her remarks [and] accurate in her description of really and truly how far and wide the First Amendment does protect speech."
At the same time the CLP is applauding Judge Dembe's ruling in the case, the legal group is not letting the City of Philadelphia off the hook. Fahling says a federal lawsuit has now been filed against the city and prosecutor for pursuing charges against the evangelical Christians. The Law Center says it wants to know why the office of the city's district attorney was so "zealous" in persecuting the peaceful Christian group for merely exercising their First Amendment rights.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
