'Counterfeit' Tract Case Headed for Appeal; Attorney Optimistic
by Allie Martin
August 24, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Attorneys for a Texas-based ministry accused of distributing a gospel tract that violates currency restrictions have filed an appeal with a federal court.In June, Secret Service agents visited the Denton, Texas, offices of The Great News Network (GNN) and confiscated thousands of "million-dollar bill" gospel tracts. The Secret Service claimed the tracts violate currency restrictions, and a district judge agreed. Now the case is headed to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Brian Fahling is senior trial attorney with the Center for Law & Policy, which represents GNN in the case. The Law Center is the legal arm of the American Family Association. Fahling says the appeal argues that the tract cannot be considered a counterfeit piece of money.
"The case law is clear. The statutes are clear that million-dollar tracts in no wise look like or appear to be actual currency authorized by Congress," Fahlin claims. "They are fictitious bills. They have disqualifying marks such as a gospel message on the back. On the front it says things like, 'This bill is not legal tender' [and] 'from the Department of Eternal Affairs.'"
The attorney finds it difficult to believe anyone could mistake the tracts as cold, hard cash. "[A]nybody with a modicum of common sense -- even without common sense, I think -- could conclude by looking at these bills that they're not actually currency," he says.
Demand for the million-dollar-bill tracts -- produced by Living Waters ministry in California -- skyrocketed as a result of the controversy. Living Waters has since developed a billion-dollar-bill tract featuring a photo of well-known preacher Charles Spurgeon.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
