Wednesday, July 14, 2010

What? In America?

Don't quite know what to say about this article except to think about Jesus' words in John 15:20, "Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you."

Christians' Arrest: 1st Step to Placate Muslims

Four missionaries arrested at an Arab festival in Dearborn, Michigan, have been arraigned.

The missionaries have appeared each year of the Annual Arab International Festival, but this year police moved in and arrested them and confiscated a camera from one member was using to film the arrests. Detroit television station WXYZ was on hand for the arraignment and talked to one of the
accused, Nabeel Qureshi.

"Our policy...as we were going through the festival [was] to allow the people to approach us," he explains. "So we did not approach anyone to avoid charges of harassing."

All four are charged with disturbing the peace, but 18-year-old Nageen Mayel, a recent convert from Islam to Christianity, was also charged with refusing to obey a police officer's order to stop filming. "I was scared," she told WXYZ-TV. "There was no reason for them to approach me, so my immediate reaction was fear of the unknown and why they were doing it."

All four missionaries plead not guilty today. They are represented by Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, who points to the Constitution.

"If people are offended by the fact that they were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to Muslims and trying to convert Muslims -- well, guess what, we have a First Amendment," Muise points out. "This is a free society. It's not a police state."

As the four apparently head to trial, the Law Center is preparing a civil suit to be filed against the city.

HT: Zoecity

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

For a different perspective on what happened there, check out the blog of someone who was raised there. He is a Mulsim background believer in Christ with much insight. His blog address is http://alielhajj.com/ Go to the blog dated June 30th.

Abdul Asad عبد الأسد said...

Jacob, I want to thank you for this link very much! It definitely provides a clearer picture of the Dearborn situation. I too agree that Josh McDowell's approach is far better and more Christlike. However, after watching the Acts 17 videos of the festival, I can say that while I totally disagree with their style, I still think people should have the right to use a polemic approach if they choose to (e.g. Jay Smith in the UK). Thus my post was not so much a judgment but a question of why silencing is happening in America (thus the question marks in the title).

Warrick Farah said...

Here is another very good post on the topic: http://alielhajj.com/?p=403