Posted on 04/20/2023 2:49:42 PM PDT by grundle
An online Christian preacher has been ordered by a Washington County judge in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to stay silent on social media for five years after he expressed his moral and religious concerns in posts about a church that endorses same-sex marriage and a public drag queen performance in front of children.
A team of attorneys with The Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization, has stepped in to help Rich Penkoski. They're asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to overturn the five-year restraining order against him, denouncing it as excessive and a clear violation of the pastor's First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.
Penkoski leads the Tennessee-based online ministry Warriors for Christ.
Rutherford Institute attorneys also point out that in the absence of any actual threats by Penkoski or proof that he sought to incite violence through the use of Bible verses, the court's rationale appears to be based solely on claims that LGBTQ leaders felt harassed and fearful about how others might react to the Bible verses cited in the preacher's social media posts.
"Religious individuals have a clear First Amendment right to publicly cite Bible verses that reflect their concerns about moral issues of the day without being accused of stalking, harassing, or terrorizing those who are offended by the sentiments," said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute.
He warned, "This case is a foreshadowing of the government's efforts to insulate the populace from all things that might cause offense by criminalizing nonviolent First Amendment activities (speech, thought, and actions) perceived as politically incorrect."
According to the institute, in one of Penkoski's social media posts, he shared another church's public photo of a same-sex wedding involving leaders of an LGBTQ organization and quoted Bible verses describing God's judgment of sin.
In a second post, Penkoski criticized the church's publicly shared photos of children celebrating Pride Month.
In a third post, Penkoski weighed in on a regional effort to ban adult-oriented entertainment in public spaces.
Attempting to refute what he believed were false statements by one of the leaders of the LGBTQ group who told the city council that no adult-oriented entertainment, obscenity, or sexually suggestive performances had occurred at a Pride event, Penkoski posted a video clip of the LGBTQ leader's public statement to city council along with a video and photos of a drag queen behaving in a sexually suggestive manner near children at the Pride event.
Although there was no evidence that Penkoski ever contacted, spoke to, tagged, or met the public figures leading the LGBTQ group, the trial court—based upon claims that the LGBTQ leaders felt terrorized and harassed by Penkoski's three social media posts on religious and political issues—imposed a five-year protective order against him.
Under the terms of the court's order, which Rutherford Institute attorneys condemn as so vague and overly broad as to chill lawful First Amendment activities, Penkoski could be subject to arrest and up to one year in jail for engaging in conduct that might cause his accusers to fear for their safety, which could broadly be interpreted to prevent him from citing similar Bible verses critical of the church's or LGBTQ group's activities.
Affiliate attorneys Joe M. Fears and Richard D. White, Jr. with Barber & Bartz are representing Penkoski on the appeal to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Two words:
Pure Insanity!
These leftie dirtbags can lie about Trump all day, but if if a Christian reads the Bible, it’s censorship time.
Two words:
Pure Insanity!
Six words:
Or prohibit the free exercise thereof;
One would expect this kind of tyranny in Canada or California. But not Oklahoma.
If a Bible verse makes you fear for your safety, you’re probably doing something very, very wrong. Instead of banning Bible verses, maybe you should think about changing your own ways.
If the speech is legal, then another person's reaction to it is not your responsibility.
Would it be too much to know the name of the Judge so people can get the pervert removed?
Well said.
This one is just begging for civil disobedience.
Was the author too frightened to publicize the judge’s name?
at this point we cant be polite with theses weirdos. 10 years ago I was a live let live person but as I learned more about woke the more I have come to realize you cant give them one inch and the best thing you can do socially is to mock them and call out the crazy.
I cannot find the Judge’s name in ANY of the stories. Very odd.
This local story is also hiding the name of the judge. Someone needs to get the autists of 4chan on this.
Thomas, Linda District Judge
Vaclaw, Russell Associate District Judge
Sigler, Jared Special Judge
Williams, Kyra K. Special Judge
How long before pastors are put in prisons for not celebrating homosexuality?
The judge needs to be thrown off the bench and disbarred for violating the preacher’s right to free speech. If the judge can’t grasp the 1st Amendment, he has no business overseeing a courtroom.
I’m pretty sure I’d tell that “judge” to go straight to hell .
i have tried and failed to locate the judge’s name. There is this: This isn’t Penkoski’s first run-in with the LGBTQ crowd. Last summer, his YouTube channel, which had 526,000 subscribers, and Facebook page were temporarily shut down thanks to complaints from an online “stalker,” he told MyChristianDaily.
It isn’t hard to figure out why they hate him. He and his fellow preachers show up at “pride” events and drag queen story hours and not only preach to those in attendance but also livestream the event so the public can see what’s really happening, not the sanitized version presented by the mainstream media. Penkoski claims to have exposed some drag queens as sex offenders and to have “shut down 21 events [as of last July] where drag queens were targeting children.” He also says his livestreams have resulted in the conversion of “dozens of homosexuals” as well as a former Antifa activist and a couple who were addicted to drugs.
When they took out Anita Bryant I realized they would eventually become a serious problem. The bible gives two examples of out of control homosexuals pushing their perversion on society.
(Sodom and Gomorrah) and (Battle of Gibeah)
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