Principal Annette Martinson
Posted on 02/08/2007 1:42:46 AM PST by Robert Drobot
Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministries, placing Bibles in motels and giving them to children, have been arrested after trying to hand out Bibles on a public sidewalk in Florida, according to a law firm.
Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund have confirmed they will be representing Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson, who were arrested, booked into jail and charged with trespassing.
Jeremy Tedesco, one of the ADF's lawyers on the case, confirmed to WND that the organization's clients were on a public sidewalk when they were handing out Bibles and school officials summoned police.
"The First Amendment protects the right to engage in religious speech on a public sidewalk," ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman said. "Members of the Gideons have been highly respected for decades as peaceful providers of free Bibles to those who want them."
Principal Annette Martinson
The arrest happened Jan. 19, when Mirto and Simpson were on the sidewalk outside of Key Largo School in Key Largo, Fla., and were distributing copies of the Bible to those interested.
Monroe County Sheriff Richard Roth
"Neither man entered school grounds," the law firm said. "After the school's principal called police, a Monroe County sheriff's officer asked the men to leave immediately or face trespassing charges. As the men prepared to leave, the officer decided to arrest both individuals."
A hearing is scheduled March 5 in Monroe County Court in the cases, and ADF attorneys are preparing motions to dismiss the charges.
"Officials cannot use fear of arrest as a means of bullying law-abiding Christians into silence," Cortman said. "These men broke no laws when they decided to communicate their message on a public sidewalk."
Tedesco noted that sometimes school officials have a misconception about whether they can control activities on school grounds and adjacent public sidewalks. But the First Amendment does provide a protection for speech on those parcels of ground that are public, he said.
"There's no reason why they should be put in jail," he said.
The ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the truth, through strategy, training, funding and litigation.
The Gideons, a group founded in the late 1800s, has as its "sole purpose" the goal "to win men, women, boys and girls to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through association for service, personal testimony, and distributing the Bible in the human traffic lanes and streams of everyday life."
Members of the Gideons, who pay their own expenses so 100 percent of the donations to the group go toward Bible purchases and distributions, have placed the Bible in 181 nations in 82 different languages over the years.
The organization focuses on hotels and motels, hospitals and nursing homes, schools, colleges and universities, the military and law enforcement and prisons and jails.
"The demand for Scriptures in these areas far exceeds our supplies that we are able to purchase through our donations. Much more could be done – if funds were available. However, we are placing and distributing more than 1 million copies of the Word of God, at no cost, every seven days in these areas…" the group said.
The organization only gives away the Bibles with the Gideon logo on the covers, but plain Bibles are available for consumers to purchase at its distribution center at P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, Tenn., 37214-0800. Information about the products is available on the group's website.
The Gideons serve as an extended missionary arm of the Christian church and are the oldest Christian business and professional men's association in the United States.
DOES a public sidewalk exist, where the two God fearing men were standing?
I'm pretty sure the Gideon bible is different from the Catholic bible there, skipper.
I know! Students aren't allowed to pray in school, Christian churches have been driven underground, and you can't even become a politician if you're a Christian! When will we have freedoms for Christians in this country?
:rolleyes:
The Gideons provide the King James Version and New King James Version when purchased from them.
Those Bibles distributed freely with the Gideon's emblem have varied over the years, but interestingly the main reason the New King James Version is currently published and provided by Gideons is to avoid controversy with Catholics.
From 1974-1983, it appears the Gideons published the Revised Berkeley Version. From 1983-1986 the Gideons published the NIV and are more recently producing the NKJV.
So... not the Catholic Bible.
Those who are not Christian believers might not think so, but those Catholics who believe in God through faith in Christ have no problem with the Bibles distributed by the Gideons. In fact the RCC applauds the Gideons in their efforts and encourages Catholics to read the Bible.
No, a public sidewalk does not exist where the three God fearing men were standing. (a third man left upon request) A public sidewalk exists a few yards away. Your question HAS been answered in this thread several times. Exactly WHAT do you want to know, how many inches onto school property they were? Maybe if your question were clearer, you would not have to ask 3 times and still confuse the people that may be able to answer.
This isn't about religion. It is about everyone, regardless of religion, must respect the laws of our land and the rights of others. If you don't like the laws of our land, get them changed or leave - either way, you won't have to live with them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defense_Fund
This is the people defending the Gideons in this. Scroll down to section "ADF ethics questioned" The example was documented (it wasn't an accident) and discussed. It's as I had expected that they are not different than the 'race baiters', they just hide behind different 'perceived wrongs' than race and, IMO, start trouble where there really is none, using people they are representing for their own agenda.
BTW, as of today the DA of Monroe County dropped the trespass charges. It was determined that the men were NOT ON SCHOOL GROUNDS. So now, instead of letting it go they now changed the charges to coming within 500ft of school grounds. Still think its not about the BIBLES?
Considering I live here and know the parties involved. No, I still don’t believe it’s about the bibles. But whatever, I think cooler heads and justice will prevail. Do you happen to have a link or source for this information?
2 months later, looking at recent news (VA Tech) and how people are screaming the school should have done more...schools just can’t win. The safety of our children should always be top priority.
It’s Monroe County.
That jackbooted thug needs a hard ass-kicking and criminal charges pressed against him. I wouldn’t trust someone like that to be a mall security guard.
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