AFLC asks Federal Court to enjoin Dearborn-area county sheriff from restricting Christians' free speech rights

A blow against the implementation of Sharia restrictions on the freedom of speech in Dearborn. "AFLC Asks Federal Court to Enjoin Wayne County Sheriff from Restricting Christians’ Right to Freedom of Speech at 2013 Arab Festival in Dearborn, Michigan," from the American Freedom Law Center, February 20:

Yesterday, the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, requesting that the court issue an order preventing the Wayne County Sheriff and his deputies from restricting a group of Christian evangelists from displaying banners and signs with Christian messages on the public sidewalks during the 2013 Arab Festival to be held in Dearborn, Michigan.
The motion is part of a federal civil rights lawsuit that AFLC filed against Wayne County, the Wayne County Sheriff, and two Wayne County Deputy Chiefs on behalf of Bible Believers, a Christian organization; Ruben Israel, the leader of Bible Believers; and two other members of the organization. Bible Believers and its members engage in street preaching and other First Amendment activities, including displaying signs and banners with Christian messages, throughout the United States.

In 2012, the Christians attended the Arab Festival in Dearborn, Michigan. While they were walking along the public sidewalks expressing their message, they were viciously attacked by a group of Muslims, who were throwing bottles, rocks, and other debris at the Christians. The Muslims were also shouting and blowing horns to harass the Christians. Some of the Muslims spat at the Christians. Several Christians, including Ruben Israel, were bruised and bloodied by the assault. The Muslims also shouted profanities at the Christians and mocked the Christians’ faith. The attack was caught on video, which has since gone viral on YouTube.

Rather than arrest the Muslims for engaging in criminal behavior, Wayne County deputies ordered the Christians to halt their free speech activity and forced them to leave the Arab Festival under threat of arrest for disorderly conduct.

As AFLC argued in its motion, Wayne County deputies cannot criminally punish the Christians’ speech as a matter of law. Moreover, the deputies have a duty not to effectuate what is known in First Amendment jurisprudence as a “heckler’s veto” by censoring the Christians’ speech based on a hostile crowd’s adverse reaction to the content of the Christian’s message. Furthermore, the deputies have an affirmative duty to insure the Christians’ safety and security in the free exercise of their constitutional rights.

The Christians are seeking a preliminary injunction because they want to return to Dearborn during the annual Arab Festival in June 2013 to engage in their free speech activity. However, they fear that if they do return without a court order protecting them, they will again be attacked by Muslims and forced to halt their speech activity under the threat of arrest for disorderly conduct.

Robert Muise, Co-Founder and Senior Counsel of AFLC, commented: “An injunction is certainly warranted and needed in this case based on the actions of the Wayne County deputies in 2012, which clearly demonstrate that they are intent on suppressing the Christians’ message by joining the violent Muslim mob rather than fulfilling their duty to protect the Christians’ safety and security in the exercise of their constitutional rights. In short, the Wayne County deputies have chosen to side with Muslim violence rather than protect the constitutional freedoms of Christians.”

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7 Comments

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john spielman | February 20, 2013 5:45 PM | Reply

To deny that Arabs can't be Christians and can only be muslims is "racist". So the sheriff cannot exclude nonmuslims from an Arabic festival!

Jorma | February 21, 2013 5:22 AM | Reply

Perhaps an aerial advertisement could be used:
http://www.airsign.com/aerialadvertising_michigan_dearborn

It should not be too expensive.

A moving and compatible ad for the festival could be for example: "Pious enough? Kill the unbelievers wherever ye find them! The Final Quran 4:89"

Should put everybody thinking!

duh_swami | February 21, 2013 6:04 AM | Reply

The Sheriff, an elected official, answers to no outside authority when it comes to doing his job...He is the highest and most authoritative law enforcement officer in his county, not the State, not the Feds...The Feds tried hard for years to knock down Sheriff Joe of Mariposa County AZ and have failed to do so...The only people he has to answer to are the people who elected him...and they just reelected him...
The Sheriff of Wayne County is playing politics...The out of town Christians don't vote in Wayne elections, but resident Mahoundians do...I don't know if Mahoundians in Wayne Co outnumber kuffar voters or not, but they should at least let him know that he must support the rights of all the people in his county or face tough reelection...

fitna | February 21, 2013 9:46 AM | Reply

"...which clearly demonstrate that they are intent on suppressing the Christians’ message by joining the violent Muslim mob rather than fulfilling their duty to protect the Christians’ safety and security in the exercise of their constitutional rights. In short, the Wayne County deputies have chosen to side with Muslim violence rather than protect the constitutional freedoms of Christians.”

Precisely, in fact this muslims are winning the Heckler's Veto in the media and the highest levels of government. They fear muslim offense and retaliation so they would rather curtail our freedom of speech than to deal with the wild raging mobs of Islam who take offense to accurate depictions of their pedophile-terrorist prophet.

As an atheist, I give my props to these Christians taking on the Islamofascist thugs-rare examples of true heroism and patriotism in a such a cowardly age.

But what they're showing us is that a monster lives in our midst, we haven't even begun thinking about how to defeat it. Ultimately this problem won't go away until muslims do.

bevc | February 21, 2013 12:04 PM | Reply

I am with commmenter John Spielman on this. How can they call it an "Arab Festival" and exclude Christian Arabs? Are they denying that the million & more Arab Christians in this country exist?

Why not demand truth in labeling laws apply to this fest and rename it Muslim Sharia Fest?

Charleston45 | February 21, 2013 2:00 PM | Reply

This is what has to be done i Unfortunately the Cops think they are above the law !
In Canada the Cops resist court orders to stop illegalNative protests & blockades ! They have to be put in their place which is subserviant to the laws of the country ! Nothing is above the law of the country & Cops are there to enforce them !

dumbledoresarmy | February 21, 2013 9:42 PM | Reply

Are there going to be public 'Quran recitations' at this festival? In Arabic, by professional reciters/ chanters?

Then, why should not the Arabic-speaking Christians - whether Melkite Catholic, Maronites, Syrian Orthodox, Copts, or Evangelicals - *also* have an Event: public *Bible* recitations, and traditional and modern hymns, presented in Arabic, and also in English? (or with leaflets providing the translation handed out to passersby, or projected on a screen behind the performers).

I am sure that Arabic-speaking Christians from the older traditions would have beautiful liturgical settings of the Psalms, and that in the course of their services they would chant the Gospel reading for the day.

It would be entirely appropriate for them to share this part of their ancient Middle Eastern Christian culture, with all visitors to the Festival, especially since even today more 'Arabs' in the USA are Christian, of various stripes, rather than Muslim. Many English-speaking American Christians, and American Christians from European backgrounds, would probably be intrigued to hear what these familiar texts sound like, when read, or declaimed, or chanted, in Arabic; and would also be interested in hearing the traditional Christian hymns.

Perhaps there are Syrian Christians who still recite/ chant their scripture and hymns in Syriac/Aramaic. *That* would be fascinating to hear; the language that, today, is the nearest thing to the language that Jesus used in his day-to-day life.

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