Pray for these people in Philadelphia...

[Jeikobu]

My dad was watching the news today and found out that several Christians in Philadelphia were arrested by gay police because they were preaching the Gospel and quoting it to try and explain why homosexuality is wrong. Now they could face up to 40 years in prison. We really need to pray for them. Remember from the Bible what praying did for Peter when he was in prison. An angel came and freed him. God can help these people too. Even if they do end up in prison for a long time, God can use them to minister to the other inmates. But we need to pray for them, that God will strengthen them and help them.

[Bobtheduck]

Fahling said that at the preliminary hearing in December, the Philadelphia city prosecutor in the case, Charles Ehrlich, attacked the defendants as "hateful" and referred to preaching the Bible as "fighting words," a characterization, the law group says, with which Judge Meehan agreed.

Wow... This is out of the realm of "conspiracy theory" and "slippery slope logic"

Arrests for preaching the Bible in the US... I guess some slopes are truly slippery. This is very sad.

[ssj2gohan61]

thats really dumb...whatever happend to freedom of speech? or maybe its not in the same thing i think but...ill pray

[Hephzibah]

No, its not the same anymore. If people take offense to what you say, they can sue you. Its the same over here. There is a 'Racial and Religious Vilification Act' in Victoria, under which two pastors have been found guilty of 'incitind hatred of Muslims' during a seminar about Islam. The funny thing is, is that most of what they are accused of saying comes straight out of the Koran.

Anyway, the case got ALOT of publicity, which is very good cause its stopped the other states from implementing the same act.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

these guys got a lot of guts. I always kept to my heart if the law prevents you from doing Gods word or sharing God's law, my all means ignore it, and break it

ill pray for them dude

[termyt]

I doubt they'll be prosecuted - most likely just harassed. I don't think the US is ready to take that step. None-the-less, this is a vision of what is to come. England is discussing a law to restrict what Christian minister can say within their own churches. It won’t be long before we are discussing that, too.

We are fighting a culture war here today. Are you armed for the battle?

[Rogie]

I hadn't heard about that; that's pretty bad. I'll pray.

[Jeikobu]

It is sad that this sort of thing is happening, but it's definitely a sign of the times. Things seem to be getting worse and worse everyday, but we know it's going to happen. I really support people like this though, who aren't afraid to go out and preach like that. I'd gladly suffer and die for God, especially if it meant leading others to salvation.

[Kawaiikneko]

our world is becoming so sad. I'll definately pray for this.

[shooraijin]

Does anyone have a link to this story? Not that I disbelieve it, but rumours have a way of snowballing, and it would be nice to have a news item to refer to.

EDIT: Are these it?

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050110-095925-2563r.htm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1301214/posts

If so, Snopes also mentions it, and brings up some interesting questions. Please remember that any and all discussion must be civil, and the fact that this site regards homosexuality as a lifestyle incompatible with Christianity under all circumstances (a view that is aggressively defended).

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/inpublic.asp

[Rogie]

Does anyone have a link to this story? Not that I disbelieve it, but rumours have a way of snowballing, and it would be nice to have a news item to refer to.

I was actually wondering about that, too, after I had read the thread and thought about it. Maybe I'll go do some research myself, right now...

[shooraijin]

I edited my prior post with a few links which I think reference the stated event. (?)

[Rogie]

Oh, we're on this thread at the same time, shoo! Well, I'll go ahead and post the two stories that I found:

The following links were the top two stories I received from Google News when I searched for "Christians in Philadelphia." The first is just a local news story while the second is by a Christian writer. I think this will ultimately turn into a "he said, she said" thing -- and that might be for the better, as in that situation, a case will likely be thrown out. If the Christians were, in fact, using cruel insults (like the first article says), then they should not have done that, because they are merely trying to start a fight. But if the Christian writer's article is the accurate one, then these Christians should not be punished for this.

http://www.local10.com/news/4082874/detail.html

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=19916

But there's so much to read, and so many different accounts on this thing, that it's hard to tell what is really going on.

[shooraijin]

The stories I posted (which purported to come from impartial news sources) seemed to imply that the Christian group was heckling the parade goers and insisting they were going to hell, etc.

I think I've made plain in the past that "loving the sinner, hating the sin" does not equate to filth like "God hates fags" and so on, because God hates homosexuality, not the LGB community. Therefore, while the Pink Angels were similarly fighting fire with fire (no pun intended), and I think the Pink Angels behaved equally condemnably, in all good conscience I can't say that the Philadelphia Four et al weren't asking for it.

Also, there seems to be some concern over whether the Christian group obeyed police instructions, and I don't see any mention anywhere whether the police officers involved were themselves gay.

Overall, I find the behaviour of both sides unpleasant. I think this only serves to cement in the LGB community the stereotype of Christians as "haters" (although the scuffle is in its own way a black eye for the concept of tolerance the LGB community claims to cherish: tolerance goes both ways, including the opposite viewpoint, and while the Christian community has never claimed to be tolerant, it stretches the limit of ingenuousness for the LGB community [especially here] to call their own actions tolerant).

[Rogie]

Very well said, shooraijin. Secular society in general wants Christians to remain the silent majority while they get their say in the matter. While we should not just sit down and let those people keep us silent and submissive to their ungodly wills, it certainly does not give us the right to behave as hypocritically intolerant as they are.

I think prayers should be in order for those Christians who humbly serve Christ without stirring up more hatred from and among sinners. We should pray that God provides strength and continual guidance to those brothers and sisters willing to serve in that way: in humility, never giving in to sin, and never hating the sinner.

[Heart of Sword]

I'll continue praying for them...

The Bible might be/is now labeled as "Hate Speech."