Posted on 12/16/2004 9:50:44 AM PST by Sam_Damon
Tupelo, MS - After a federal appeals court denied an emergency appeal to stop prosecution of 11 Christians on Tuesday, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could face up to 47 years in prison.
The Christians were arrested on October 10 for praying, singing, and reading scripture during an annual “gay pride” event known as “Outfest” in Philadelphia.
(Excerpt) Read more at afa.net ...
For Immediate Release: 12/16/2004
. - “First, symbols of Christianity are removed from the public square; now, Christians are facing 47 years in prison because they preached the gospel in the public square. Stalin would be proud,” – Brian Fahling, AFA Center for Law and Policy Senior Trial Attorney.
Tupelo, MS - After a federal appeals court denied an emergency appeal to stop prosecution of 11 Christians on Tuesday, Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony (criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation, and riot) and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could face up to 47 years in prison.
The Christians were arrested on October 10 for praying, singing, and reading scripture during an annual “gay pride” event known as “Outfest” in Philadelphia.
Since the federal courts did not intervene to halt the state prosecution, the last route for the Christians would be an appeal to the Supreme Court says the Christians’ attorney Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy.
“First, symbols of Christianity are removed from the public square, now, Christians are facing years in prison because they preached the gospel in the public square. Stalin would be proud,” Fahling said.
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia denied emergency relief despite video footage Fahling calls “undisputed evidence” that shows the Christians cooperating with police and continually being harassed by the Pink Angels, a group of homosexuals organized to impede the gospel message. Philadelphia city prosecutor in the case, Charles Ehrlich, attacked the Christians as “hateful” and referred to preaching the Bible as “fighting words,” the judge agreed.
Charges were dropped against the remaining seven apparently because they were not seen quoting scripture on the videotape.
The Philadelphia case represents another example of discrimination toward Christians,” said Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association national headquarters. “The past month has poured forth cases of Christian persecution seen in the higher education institution, public school systems, and the judicial court system.”
So much for the First Amendment in the City of Brotherly Love... or have I missed something?
Gee, what a surprise. Remember who be in charge in Philadelphia.
Ping
I live in PA. I think when this hits the PA Supreme Court it will end up being a high profile win for us and the constitution. If not, then we can count of God for an even bigger victory down the road. (he tends to work that way.) Historically, the more a society rebelled against God, the more he made his presence known.
Who was on the federal appeals court that made this decision?
This looks to me like a good case for a Presidential Pardon, if nothing happens to derail the process before they go to jail.
You know this is Philadelphia, Mississippi, not Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, right?
This story needs to get to Hannity and Hewitt ASAP.
IMO, only our support of Israel has thus far prevented Him from coming down hard on the USA.
MM
I've never heard of Philadelphia, MS, but the dateline for the article is Tupelo, MS. Also, on another thread on this topic, they mentioned that it was Philadelphia MS.
I'm going to withhold judgement until I find out exactly what was going on.
No, the story is from the AFA, which is in MS. The arrest took place in PA.
There are some cities in this country that I will no longer travel to. In the case of Massachusetts and Vermont, that goes for the entire state.
"Here at Fort Benning, protesters who are first-time trespassers are just booked and released, It takes coming back a second year to trespass again to be given a trial date."
In the Philadelphia case, it appears that all of the accused were on public property. I haven't seen any allegations of trespassing in the case. Makes this particularly bizarre and disturbing.
Philadelphia MISSISSIPPI had a gay pride day?? I must have missed it.
As far as I know, The American Family Association Center for Law & Policy is headquartered in Tupelo MS and that might be the confusing point.
Okay, my mistake. Apologies to all involved.
I was confused by the release coming from Mississippi.
Was it Philly, Mississippi or Philly, PA? If it was Mississippi then I've made an embarrassing mistake.
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