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Posted on 12/16/2004 5:51:20 PM PST by ChristianDefender
Four Christian protesters who demonstrated at a Philadelphia homosexual event face a possible 47 years in prison if convicted of felony charges filed against them, while a prosecutor referred to Scripture verses they read as "fighting words."
The four are part of 11 demonstrators who went before the Philadelphia Municipal Court in a preliminary hearing this week. Judge William Austin Meehan Tuesday ordered four of the Christians to stand trial on three felony and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could a maximum of 47 years in prison.
As WorldNetDaily reported, on Oct. 10, the group was "preaching God's Word" to a crowd of people attending the outdoor Philadelphia "OutFest" event and displaying banners with biblical messages.
After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, described by protesters as "a militant mob of homosexuals," the 11 Christians were arrested and spent a night in jail.
Eight charges were filed: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways.
None of the Pink Angels was cited or arrested.
A video of the arrest, provided by the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy can be seen here [Windows Media].
"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, said in a statement.
A federal appeals court in Philadelphia denied emergency relief earlier this week despite video footage Fahling calls "undisputed evidence" that shows the Christians cooperating with police and being harassed by the Pink Angels.
Fahling's group says the Philadelphia city prosecutor in the case, Charles Ehrlich, attacked the defendants as "hateful" and referred to preaching the Bible as "fighting words," a characterization, the law group says, with which Judge Meehan agreed.
Charges were dropped against the remaining seven Christians, apparently because they were not seen quoting Scripture on the videotape.
The ethnic intimidation charge stems from Pennsylvania's "hate crimes" law – to which the newest "victim" category of "sexual orientation" was recently added.
If they had committed multiple homicides over a $20 crack deal in philtydelphia, they would get a lesser sentence.
This is merely words!
Don't give up. It is , however, time to impeach this moron judge.
Sounds like a plan to me.
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Don't count on it.
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AAAACK!!!!
I take it back, if you'll take that picture away! LOL
I probably jumped to quickly, I am just getting fed up with all the Christian bashing. I agree with you that it is best to obey the law, especially since we know how this will be portrayed in the MSM. It really doesn't do anything to further the cause and will actually be spun to make the protestors look like raving lunatics. Quick question, when was the last time a group of lefty protestors were portrayed as insane?
As Americans we often take too much for granted and our freedoms allow us to be born optomists and unsuspecting of those who wish the demise of our "American Way". Three things have made a major impact IMO on society's apparent fall from grace.
The NEA is a front runner in that they target our impressionable youth. With stay-at-home moms mocked into non-existence, the NEA has been emboldened to socialize/poison our children knowing many of their actions would fall below most parents "radar".
The second nefarious influence has been the Warren/Marshall U.S. Supreme Courts which behind the scenes set many of the abusing legal precidents into motion, through their modernizing views of what the Founding Fathers "meant" when the Constitution was forged.
The final piece of the puzzle came in the form of the ACLU whose organization of trial lawyers (with coffers overflowing from tobacco claims) and "pocketed" Federal Judges took advantage of the Supreme Court's ambiguous precidents to set the HARD LEFT LIBERAL's agenda into motion. Our American way-of-life softened us into ignoring the subtle "warning signs"... if something didn't affect our immediate life we turned a blind eye to it. We have lost our ability to distinguish evil until it is fast upon us. Every compromise made on our morals has only emboldened those who wish us harm. The church has stood silent, infiltrated from within by those who undermined it's strength, spreading moral relativism as the "little leaven" that ruins the whole loaf. America is asleep and the wolves have thrown off their sheep's clothing...sad but sobering
Distinguishing between Patriots and cowards, our favorite Founder, Samuel Adams said: "Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, 'What should be the reward of such sacrifices?' ... If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom...crouch down and lick the hands, which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!"
This was quoted from an issue of the Federalist!
Meanwhile, multiple-time felons are out on parole...
I'm gonna have to go to sleep. Will re-read this tomorrow for a reply.
Thanks.
"I had a homosexual drunkard Christain get in my face not to long ago and tell me I was going to hell because I supported a womans right to choice..."
Curious, how did you know he was homosexual and was he really drunk? Or did you just say that about him, because you did not like what he was saying to you?
INTREP - Religious Freedom Attack
Yeah, right.
The qrs sounded like a bunch of shrill girlies cheering when the arrests happened... grown men with voices two octaves higher than they should be!
...and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18
So the prosecutor is going to have to say that it's like yelling "fire" in a crowded theater.
Well... it's sort of like that. Hell, fire, brimstone. I guess there's a small legal point in all of this.
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