PA CHRISTIANS FACE 47 YEARS IN PRISON.....email I received from freeper...

[jus_the_facts]

PENNSYLVANIA CHRISTIANS FACE 47 YEARS IN PRISON FOR READING THE
BIBLE IN PUBLIC
Dear Michael,

What we have been saying has now happened. You cannot quote what the
Bible has to say about homosexuality in public or you will be charged
with a "hate crime." Philadelphia is only the beginning. If we fail to
take a stand here, this "crime" will soon be applied across America.

In the 27 years of this ministry, I have never witnessed a more
outrageous miscarriage of justice than what is happening in
Philadelphia. Four Christians are facing up to 47-years in prison and
$90,000 in fines for preaching the Gospel on a public sidewalk, a
right fully protected by the First Amendment.

On October 10, 2004, the four Christians were arrested in
Philadelphia. They are part of "Repent America." Along with founder
Michael Marcavage, members of Repent America—with police
approval--were preaching near "Outfest", a homosexual event, handing
out Gospel literature and carrying banners with Biblical messages.

When they tried to speak, they were surrounded by a group of radical
homosexual activists dubbed the Pink Angels. A videotape of the
incident shows the "Pink Angels" interfering with the Christians’
movement on the street, holding up large pink symbols of angels to
cover up the Christians' messages and blowing high pitched whistles to
drown out their preaching.

Rather than arrest the homosexual activists and allow the Christians
to exercise their First Amendment rights, the Philadelphia police
arrested and jailed the Christians!

They were charged with eight crimes, including three felonies:
possession of instruments of crime (a bullhorn), ethnic intimidation
(saying that homosexuality is a sin), and inciting a riot (reading
from the Bible some passages relating to homosexuality) despite the
fact that no riot occurred.

You may think I am exaggerating. I'm not. Our AFA Center for Law
and Policy is representing these four individuals at no cost. We will
take this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary to get
justice.

There is so much more about this case I don't have room for it in this
letter. We have prepared a 25-minute VHS/DVD in which two AFA-CLP
attorneys discuss the case in detail.

Please help us with our expenses in representing these committed
Christians. With your tax-deductible gift of $15, less than the cost
of a cup of coffee once a month for the next year, we will send your
choice of either the VHS or DVD. Watch the VHS/DVD, then share it
with your Sunday school class and church. This VHS/DVD should be
required viewing in every church in America.

Click here to get your copy of the Philadelphia 4 Story
https://store.afa.net/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=27

Thanks for caring enough to get involved. We must not allow this
travesty of justice to continue.

Sincerely,

Don

Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

P.S. Please forward this email to family and friends.

________________________

here's the resulting exchange...

from me...You've got total control of the world now....sickening that your *christian leader* acts more like the ANTI CHRIST in all he's done since stealing office TWICE.....you all will reap what you've sown.....heh well your GRANDCHILDREN WILL....unless your *side* doesn't bring about the armageddon you all pray and vote for with such PASSION....lead like sheep to the slaughter.....those false prophets have you so bamboozled it's truly pathetic.


their lame retort...I guess you're not for free speech unless it's for "your side." Oh well, so much for "tolerance and love." Keep smiling-

and lastly from me so far...
.....this article reeks of NO TOLORANCE OR LOVE by crying about how homos are such a threat...try using your
BRAIN once and awhile....instead of closing it and whining about freedom of speech for YOUR side WHO DOESN'T EVEN PAY TAXES yet NOW expects to receive tax monies to further YOUR views....puleeze.

_________

...I could have done better but I'm just sooooo TIRED of beatin' my head against the *proverbial WALL*...sigh. :puke:

[progressivejazz]

1. I'm sure the ACLU will be happy to support their case...

IF they really have one.

Unfortunately, this smells like just another case of a member of the religion industry lying in order to rake in money.

[papau]

18. Says using a bullhorn to disrupt a "gay pride" event called "Outfest"

Last I looked that was a case of someone looking for trouble and

not of some free speech right that was lost.

[NYC]

2. That certainly seems like only one side of the story.

If they are facing prison, there is likely a news article somewhere that is a little more objective.

[atommom]

3. Sheesh. Some people just can't handle being told they're going to Hell.

:eyes: It's hard for me to feel sorry for "Christians" who preach hatred. If Fred Phelps can carry on unmmolested for so many years, I doubt that many run-of-the-mill religious homophobes are getting hassled.

[Anakin Skywalker]

4. You Said it Right.

The whining from the right is just more hysteria. Their flocks apparently only respond well to fear-mongering (see "War on Terror", "Gay Marriage", etc.)

[Bronco69]

5. I don't believe that for one second!

If a Xtian were to actually face 47 years in prison for reading the bible in public falwell and robertson would be screaming it from the mountains. It's a made up lie to make money. falwell did the same thing with the Clinton murder tapes back in the 90's. How these people wake up in the morning and look themselves in the mirror is beyond me!

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Send them to my Liberal Christians site. *g*

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[queeg]

7. Let them Rot

Toss them in Jail, and let Alberto Gonzales ship them off somewhere once in a while where they can be tortured for a few days to soften them up for questioning. Religious fanatacism=terrorism. They are just as much terrorists as anyone else at Gitmo, and they have been captured on the "battlefield."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. This sounds like something for Snopes

:shrug:

But it doesn't seem to be there yet.

[gratuitous]

9. The Bible says more about the wrongs of bearing false witness

Than it does about homosexuality. In fact, the word "homosexual" doesn't even appear in the Bible! I wonder how Mr. Wildmon got so far off the track? It's almost as if his conscience has been seared over with a hot iron . . .

[alfredo]

10. this story appeared in World Net Daily

Not the most credible source.

They are trying real hard to paint the Christians as an oppressed minority.

[jus_the_facts]

11. UPDATE.....sigh....

...here's the latest exchange....them...

Chill girl, I think you one too many Goo Goo Bars. We're talking about free speech, not the content. Remember what Country you're in. Now take a deep breath.


....ME.........lookin' more and more like nazi germany every damn day....you keep drinkin' the koolaid....jim jones style....moron.

:eyes:

OH GODDAMMIT...HE JUST WROTE THIS BACK!!!!


Not very nice. You should be more tolerant and understanding, even if you don't agree. It's a Republican thing, you know, to be accepting of others views, and I understand your pain. Sorry.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

12. A family that prays together, stays together.... sort of....

but divorce isn't a "real" sin.... if everything is so perfect in their little reality... then why this?? Why indeed.

A recent study by the Barna Research Group throws extreme doubt on these estimates. Barna released the results of their poll about divorce on 1999-DEC-21. 1 They had interviewed 3,854 adults from the 48 contiguous states. The sampling error is within 2 percentage points. The survey found:
bullet 11% of the adult population is currently divorced.
bullet 25% of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime.
bullet Divorce rates among conservative Christians were much higher than for other faith groups, and for Atheists and Agnostics.

Variation in divorce rates among Christian faith groups:
Denomination (in order of decreasing divorce rate) % who have been divorced
Non-denominational (small groups; independents) 34%
Baptists 29%
Mainline Protestants 25%
Mormons 24%
Catholics 21%
Lutherans 21%

[Az]

13. Ask them what they were arrested for

There is nothing in the article specifying what they were arrested for.

[Inland]

14. Googled for other side of story, this from the Gadflyer

http://gadflyer.com/flytrap/

According to court papers filed by the City of Philadelphia in the lawsuit, the organizers of Outfest had a permit to hold a special event on October 10, 2004; Marcavage's group of 11 people did not. Philadelphia police allowed Marcavage and his group to express themselves until they began to disrupt the event: Marcavage "used bullhorns and yelled offensive messages to the Outfest participants . . . . interfered with and unreasonably disturbed the Outfest activities." Moreover, Marcavage's group "refused multiple requests to relocate their protests to an area that would allow their message to be heard, without interfering with the ongoing permitted event." After "reasonable requests and warnings" from the police, the 11 were arrested. (Charges against seven were later dropped.)

[jus_the_facts]

19. thanks....sent him the entire article and link.....

...I'm sure it's all for naught but sent it regardless anywaaay! :hi:

[Az]

15. By his logic

Apostate groups should be allowed to sit outside churches with bullhorns shouting about how delusional believers are.

[lazarus]

17. I'm up for that

:evilgrin:

[sandnsea]

16. Michael Macarvage - loon

Well known, gets arrested all the time. They were asked to move to avoid the potential of violence as things were getting very tense; he did not. He and his cronies were arrested. They got what they wanted, boo hoo.

[saltpoint]

20. Donald Wildmon is a horse's ass.

The goddam Christian Right fails to include pro-gay references in the Bible in their numerous public showboatings.

And the voices of mainstream Christians remain silent as this assault rages on.

If it were my religion the Right was despoiling, I would be pissed.

[ucmike]

21. Listening to FM radio in Virginia, I was shocked....

flipping stations looking for some classic rock and found a lot of people yelling about jesus. to each his own, but i was dumbfounded by three references to homosexuals persecuting christians. 3 times, while flipping through stations, i wasn't even listening. i couldn't believe that the leaders of these churches are claiming that the gay minority is destroying the christian belief system???

WTF???

any belief system that is so fragile that it can't coexist with a decided minority without feeling persecuted doesn't deserve to survive. what are they so afraid of? why do they consider the very existence of gays as persecution??? they could use a collective pyschotherapy session, IMO.

[OnionPatch]

22. It's just another example

of how they can't take responsibility for thier own religion: They expect everyone in the country to adher to their ideas, if they don't, it threatens their religion? Give me a break.

Hey hypocrites, do as you say and take responsibilty for keeping your religion and the "sanctity" of your marriage intact without harrassing the rest of us and expecting the government to support you for it.