A lawsuit has been filed against the city of Wichita Kansas and several of its police officers for violating the first and fourteenth amendment rights of a local pastor. The incident happened last summer at homosex-fest where the pastor was arrested for peaceably standing on a public sidewalk outside the event.
According to the records, Mark Holick, pastor of the Spirit One Christian Center, called the police department one week before the event to ask permission to share his beliefs on the date of the festival. He was told that he could not go into the Heritage Square Park, the public park where the event was being held, but that the sidewalk would be his “friend.” When Pastor Holick and several other of his church members arrived, the were immediately confronted by police. He was told that they would have to leave or be arrested. When the pastor asked where they could go, the officers said the sidewalks were off limits to him and that they could go to a nearby private parking lot. Since this was unreasonable, Pastor Holick refused and was arrested on trespassing charges. The entire encounter lasted only three minutes and fifteen seconds. The Alliance Defense Fund, an advocacy organization that defends constitutional rights, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Pastor Holick. Although the trespassing charges were later dropped, the issue has not been resolved, according to the ADF. "Exercising your First Amendment rights is not a crime," said Joel Oster, ADF senior legal counsel. "Arresting Christians simply because they choose to exercise those rights in a public place is unconstitutional." The trespassing count later was dismissed at the city's request after officials watched a videotape that revealed the pastor was conducting himself peacefully on a public sidewalk. But when ADF lawyers sent a request to the city asking for assurances that Holick would not be "similarly harassed" at future events, the request was ignored. "Plaintiff seeks a permanent injunction and a declaration prohibiting Defendants from arresting him, or from otherwise restricting his speech, on traditional public fora due to the content and viewpoint of his speech, or because of his religion beliefs," the lawsuit said. It describes how he "wanted to communicate the gospel message to those persons participating in and attending the Event" and "wanted to attend the Event to build connections with attendees so that he might be able to share the gospel with them later." However, he never was allowed even to express his beliefs, because he was confronted by police officers "immediately," and within three minutes, 15 seconds, he had been arrested. The lawsuit alleged the city's policies and actions were arbitrary and capricious and denied Holick's fundamental rights. As if all this were not enough, Spirit One Christian Center also has been threatened by the IRS with an audit for posting messages on its marquee dealing with the value of human life, based on dozens of Bible references The notice he got from the IRS warned him about putting his Christian beliefs on the sign, and he responded that he would continue to preach the Word of God.
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