This week in Christian history: Denmark becomes Lutheran; archbishop of Canterbury dies
Evangelist group Bible Believers wins free speech case – Oct. 28, 2015
This week marks the anniversary of when Bible Believers, a street evangelist group, won a free speech case against Wayne County, Michigan, law enforcement officials.
The case stemmed from an incident at the 2012 Arab festival in Dearborn, where police officers kicked Bible Believers out of the event after a group of Muslims attacked the evangelists.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-7 in favor of the street preachers, with Judge Eric L. Clay, a Clinton appointee, authoring the majority opinion.
"Although it might be inferred that the Bible Believers' speech was intended to anger their target audience, the record is devoid of any indication that they intended imminent lawlessness to ensue," wrote Clay.
"In this opinion we reaffirm the comprehensive boundaries of the First Amendment's free speech protection, which envelopes all manner of speech, even when that speech is loathsome in its intolerance, designed to cause offense, and, as a result of such offense, arouses violent retaliation."
The following year, Wayne County agreed to pay $197,500 in attorneys' fees to the American Freedom Law Center, which represented Bible Believers, to conclude the case.
