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.
"Amen! These people have not a clue when Jesus arrives of what they are in store for...."
"...and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
I was thinking the same thing!
Look at the rich man and Lazarus in the bible for a good example. The rich man cared less about eternity, until faced with the reality of hell, but then it was too late for him.
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".
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Funny, but I somehow missed the memo on that one, LOL. The direction and mishandling of the way public schools are run is one of many reasons I decided to stay home with my children. I would like to be available full-time to help counter-act any garbage they run into in a public school setting. I am thinking very hard about homeschooling them, if necessary. Or, perhaps, a private Christian school. (My eldest attends parochial school, so it's not something new to me).
Even when "...the law is an ass..."?
I think a good defense strategy would be to assert it was the gays who uttered the first fighting words. I can't imagine in a million years the pinkos were in the least bit respectful to the preachers.
Further, any detectives present wearing pink arm bands should be impeached as witnesses, as their testimonies could not be reliable.
Moreover, I've always felt that when it appears there is too much coziness between a plaintiff and the judge or prosecutor you should find a mole and video or audio tape the bastards to find judicial or prosecutorial misconduct. $50 says either the judge or the prosecutor, probably both, are corrupt in this case. You'll find some gay connection with both of them.
Further, any detectives present wearing pink arm bands should be impeached as witnesses, as their testimonies could not be reliable.
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I would hope they wouldn't be allowed to testify! Although I have to doubt the prosecution's intelligence from the get-go, so who knows?
You are doing your children and yourself a great service in being at home. Its often overlooked how families, who traditionally had a mother available at home to safeguard the raising of their children, have benefitted in ways not often shown in statistics.
The NEA is our nation's largest lobbying force in Washington and their agenda has not been in the best interest of our children, sad to say. Our schools have changed radically in the past dozen years but at a pace that has allowed the changes to go fairly unrecognized. A lot of schools now have "administrators", who often have no burden of teaching and yet outnumber the teachers in most cases who not only draw higher pay but have more job security than teachers.
In states where bonds are used to supplement education funding parents are often threatened that failing to get behind supporting a bond will threaten the needful firing of one or more teachers (administrators almost are never mentioned) and "forcing" schools to use outdated books. Their usual ace up their sleeve is to threaten abandoning afterschool sports programs or band knowing many parents see these programs as avenues of growth in their children's development.
In one local school, where a bond had failed to be passed, the school held an assembly and the teachers who had been fired were allowed to express their disappointment in the children's parents who had "ignorantly and selfishly" voted against paying out of pocket for the bond's support. Children were in tears and its this type of propaganda that parents are up against.
Are there still plenty of good teachers? Yes, but there goodness is stifled by an educational bureaucracy that enforces the way subjects are taught as well as their resources...teachers must follow the "script" or risk seeing their career slammed shut. Classrooms are often monitored without warning to ensure this regimin is followed. The problem is its never as stark or obvious, this is done under the guise of being "helpful" to new teachers. They are coddled into submission.
If you think "PC" is rampant in society, its bred in our schools. The number of things a normal healthy child is capable of doing that is against PC protocol is mind boggling. Questions imposed on our children are not just knowledge based but often personal, what is a child thinking socially and why, what is mommy and daddy like...its as if Social Services and The Department of Education have melded into one.
I will stop there because it is a time to be thankful for having a country still blessed and under God's watchful protection. I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas:)
2 Corinthians 4:8
[We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair;
Psalms 28:7
The LORD [is] my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but, it does nothing for your personal testimony if you disobey those in authority. Unless they tell you to deny Christ or go against his Word.
It is twisted logic that the prosecuter is using but to tease your point a little further, I wonder if it will now be unlawful for a preacher to say "you will burn in Hell."
Is it possible for an "authority" to give an unlawful order, which if disobeyed, carries no enforceable penalty?
Please refer to the last sentence.
Unless they tell you to deny Christ or go against his Word
If that is true, they should have arrested him then and there, not lead him along for a few minutes.
"Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death. Thoughtcrime IS death." One day, hate speech will be an offense deemed by the unholy one-world-government to be worthy of public execution. Everybody thinks that only the ones who refuse to either receive or worship the mark of the beast will be the only ones to be publicly executed by guillotine...in the Last Days, all things considered sinful in the eyes of God will be legal (even gay sex between a 52 year old man and a 2 year old boy), while all things considered good in the eyes of God will be illegal, and all crimes in the NWO will carry an automatic penalty of death. So enjoy the things you do today, because possibly 4 years from now you could be put to death for those same things. Can you imagine being executed for hunting or fishing? It will happen. You will be executed for eating meat. Refusing to adapt to a strict vegan diet will be a capital offense. Practicing monogamous, marital, heterosexual sex will earn you a trip to the guillotine. Having a Bible in your possession will cost you your head. Using hate speech will at first result in your tongue being cut out by the jackboots before being led to the guillotine.
We haven't even begun to see the darkest days in human history.
Why are you reviving this thread? These people were exonerated, I believe.
When God's children decide to burn in Hell, all He will say to them is "Depart from me, for I never knew ye." Nothing else.
Because it's just a matter of time before something similar happens again (somebody in America, the so-called Land Of The Free, being arrested for "hate speech" IN AMERICA). Always be prepared for the next time.
You seem to be missing something very important.
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