Christian Arrested and Jailed for Praying In Park

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World Net Daily

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A Christian who prayed in a public park with six other people is serving a nine-day jail sentence for disorderly conduct even though his case is under appeal and charges against the others were dismissed or overturned.

Wisner Park in Elmira, N.Y.

Julian Raven of Elmira, N.Y., said he was "surprised by police at his office," handcuffed and taken into custody this week, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is defending Raven.

"According to his wife, police escorted him out of a court hearing … in handcuffs in front of his crying children to begin serving his nine-day jail sentence," the organization said in a report.

"We are surprised at how eager the city was to arrest Mr. Raven again in light of his appeal. Now he will serve time in jail; however, we will continue to aggressively pursue his appeal in court," said Joel Oster, ADF senior legal counsel.

WND previously reported on the decision to appeal Raven's conviction.

Raven was arrested while praying in an Elmira public park during a 2007 "gay pride" event. His attorneys are waiting for a response from the New York Court of Appeals

Originally seven people were arrested June 23, 2007, in Elmira's Wisner Park at a homosexual festival promoted by city officials as open to all. Four were convicted, but three of the convictions already have been overturned.

The Christians "made their way to an area in front of the stage and began to pray silently while lying prostrate in the grass. A police sergeant had earlier informed Julian Raven that he could not enter the public park, walk through the park, or talk to anyone in the park about his religion. After the group began to pray silently on their faces, all were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct," ADF reported.

Court records show Sgt. Sharon Moyer told Raven he could not disrupt the event.

So, ADF reported, he and the others "entered the event to pray silently for event participants and to share the Gospel with them."

"There was plenty of room in the park. No one was being turned away. They walked in silence. Neither the defendant nor anyone from the group bumped into anyone as they entered and they did not force others out of the way," ADF said.

They walked to a grassy area near the front, kneeled or laid down, and prayed.

"They chose this posture in order to be as non-threatening as possible," ADF said.

Moyer then arrested the seven and reported it was because of concern that the homosexual festival participants might react with hostility to the Christians.

Three defendants were removed from the case almost immediately, leaving four to be convicted by Elmira city Judge Thomas Ramich of "disorderly conduct."

But the convictions for three – Gloria Raven, Maurice Kienenberger and Walter Quick – later were overturned in the Chemung County Court.

ADF is arguing, under the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, "peaceful speakers may not be arrested simply because others in the forum may react to their message in a hostile manner."

"The lower courts in this case ruled that the arrests were proper because the defendant must have known that other event participants would respond with hostility. This, however, is precisely what the … cases prohibit,"  ADF asserts.

When the Christians were arrested, officials with Elmira justified their actions to WND.

Assistant Police Chief Mike Robertson told WND at the time that the members were accused of a "combination" of allegations, including the "intent" to cause a public inconvenience, a "disturbance" of a meeting of persons and obstructing vehicular or pedestrian traffic.

He also said at the time that the accusations would include taking part in "any act that serves no legitimate purpose."

The prosecutor, Robert Siglin, said the city was concerned for public safety, and that's why the Christians were arrested while exercising their First Amendment rights.

ADF said it is ironic that Elmira recently settled a lawsuit in a separate federal civil action involving Raven and two others. In that 2008 case, Elmira police threatened the men with arrest as they tried to share their faith during another "gay pride" event.

The men were wearing shirts with the message "Liberated by the blood of Jesus," handing out literature and holding up signs on a public sidewalk at the event.

Court documents show the city paid each defendant in that case $5,000 plus the attorneys' fees and costs for the action.

Oster told WND that the city appeared to go out of its way to create controversy in the case. Raven has been represented by legal counsel throughout, yet the city mailed to his home address – not his legal counsel – a notification of an arrest warrant.

The city then arrested Raven before the notification reached him, Oster confirmed.

"They wouldn't have to do that," he said. "It was intentionally to create embarrassment."

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JMC Ministries Response

As in our previous post about the University who is allowing students to put on a play that portrays Jesus as a homosexual. We stated that when those who want to defame or blaspheme the holy scriptures and our Lord and Savior their 1st amendment rights are upheld and they are allowed to do as they please and are protected.

But Christians who just want to do a silent pray on public property in a park are arrested and put in jail for 9 days. As Americans our 1st amendment rights should be upheld just as those who seek to defame and blaspheme. But they are not my fellow brothers and sisters and it is crystal clear of that.

University Play Portrays Jesus As Homosexual

JMC Ministries Response

Written by: Miranda Caverley

Though this college is allowing students to put on this play. What some Christians Might not know is that there is a movie Called Corpus Christi that depicts Jesus as a Homosexual that was made in 2009. Now these University students to us have taken the movie Corpus Christi and turned it into a play. A play and movie that totally blasphemes The holy bible and Christian Morals.

The University says that they “have” to let the play go on because if they don’t it will violate the 1st amendment rights of the students.

But we must ask ourselves. What if Christian Students wanted to do a play that depicted what the bible says Jesus went through and stick completely to what the Holy bible says. Would the Christian Students then be able to do the play? When anything that is remotely Christian is told there must be a separation of Church and state.

Most Christians todaay can’t even share their faith in school without being suspended or having their microphones shut off during speeches when they start talking about God/Jesus. And just 2 days ago a high school graduate was told she could not play Ave Maria during her high school graduation because it was “religious” WHAT ABOUT OUR RIGHTS! THESE PEOPLE ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS TOO BUT THEIR 1ST AMENDMENT RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED! BUT WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO BLASPHEME AND DEGRADE OUR LORD AND SAVIOR THEIR 1ST AMENDMENT RIGHTS ARE UP HELD!

OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS THIS IS WRONG!

To us this just shows that America is becoming more and more NOT a free country and that if you stand for moral values and Christian Values you will be silenced. But if you are for defaming and blaspheming the holy scriptures and our Lord and savior you are free to do as you please. All we can tell you is that we are heading for the great tribulation if we don’t stand up and cry out for our rights that our forefathers fought for to give us. That our rights shouldn’t just be applied to certain people.

We must pray for our country for only God can stop what Satan seeks to kill and destroy. 

Kenya: Abortion Law Spotlights Horrors

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JMC Ministries Response

After watching this video for the horrors of what women are doing just to abort their babies is almost sickening. Babies being thrown into the dirty back alleys and sewers and eaten by animals. Is so disturbing you almost can't even grasp that this is real and is happening nearly everyday.

While there are many that think Abortion is ok and that there is nothing wrong with it. We must ask you how you think killing a baby like this and throwing its body into a street to be eaten by animals is fine and not murder? 

To our Christian Brothers and Sisters we must continue to pray and raise awareness of the horrors that are taking place in our world and try to stop abortion and make it illegal again. What comes to our minds are how many poor children didn't even have the chance to even breathe their first breath of life. Who may they have become? A scientist, musician, teacher, preacher, leader of a country? We will never know.

Mother and Daughter Reunite with each other through Facebook after 32 years

Click to read original article from New4Jax.com

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An emotional reunion 32 years in the making came about thanks to Facebook.
Sonya Brown had to give up her baby for adoption and had not seen her since."I just want to put my arms around her because I never ever got to hold her. They took her from me," Brown said. "And I just tried to block it out all these years."Brown said the state of Kansas made her give up her child because she was 15 years old when her daughter was born.

Video: Reunion 32 After Adoption

Decades later, the two women found each other on the Internet."When I was on Facebook, her picture came up. And I looked into her eyes, I knew that was my child. I knew it was her," she said. "I sent the message first. And she sent a message back saying, 'Oh my god, are you serious?'"Emily Singleton said she knew she was adopted at a young age and always wondered about her birth mom. She said she was overwhelmed when she received the message on Facebook."I was hoping it wasn't a joke," Singleton said.Singleton flew from Kansas City to Jacksonville to meet her mom for the first time. The two women hugged and will spend time getting to know each other."I don't think I have any words right now," Singleton said. "I'm just really happy right now. It's been a long journey."Singleton has a few kids of her own and Brown says she looks forward to meeting her grandchildren sometime this summer.

Innocent Man Released From Prison after 16 years Shares How The World as he knew it Has Changed

click to read full article from CNN
By Stephanie Chen, CNN

CNN) -- To see the world through Greg Taylor's eyes, imagine being stuck in a time machine for 16 years and delivered to 2010.
Facebook, flat screens and DVDs are all new to him. Relationships that used to come with natural ease seem awkward.
Since 1993, Taylor, now 47, had been locked away in North Carolina's prison system for the murder of a prostitute. Last month, he was exonerated and freed.
"All that frustration and confusion I had stored up all those years was just let out," Taylor said, recalling the day he was released, February 17. "There was a lot of relief and gratitude. There was a whole lot to get used to."
He agreed to jot down his impressions and share them with CNN.
After a month readjusting to life outside prison, Taylor has concluded that Facebook is "neat but a waste of time." He's in awe that a flat, round disk called a DVD lets him rewind and fast-forward movies by just pushing a button. He finds the automatic soap dispensers in the mall bathrooms startling.
Taylor is the first man to be exonerated by a state innocence commission, which makes his case stand out from those of the more than 500 people across the country who have been exonerated by the work of private attorneys, according to the Life After Exoneration program.
The group that freed Taylor, the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, was created in 2006 after a succession of wrongful convictions were revealed. It's a one-of-a-kind program with a state-mandated panel that re-examines questionable cases, including those that don't involve DNA evidence like Taylor's.
Other jurisdictions are following North Carolina's lead, looking at creating government agencies to prevent and reverse wrongful convictions. In New York City, the Manhattan District Attorney's office launched a program this month to proactively flag common errors such as witness misidentification and false confessions before the case go to trial.
A petition filed before the Florida Supreme Court by a group of attorneys asks the state to create an agency based on North Carolina's model that will examine why wrongful convictions occur. Attorneys hope gathering useful data on eyewitness misidentifications and snitch testimony will highlight systemic flaws that need repair.
In Taylor's case, the commission considered new tests that revealed that a stain found in Taylor's truck was not blood, as the prosecutor had argued. The commission also reviewed testimony from the jailhouse informant who implicated Taylor at the trial.
By the time the commission decided to free Taylor on February 17, he had already spent a total of 16 years behind bars.
That day, he stumbled out of the courthouse without shackles for the first time. He grinned when his 26-year-old daughter embraced him tearfully. No longer a 9-year-old, Kristen Puryear had a child herself, making Taylor a grandfather.
She drove while her father sat in the passenger seat.
The post-exoneration journey is daunting for many former inmates, most of whom have spent a large portion of their adult lives in institutional settings.
The Life After Exoneration Program found one out of three inmates has lost custody of children. About 25 percent develop post traumatic stress disorder, but access to counseling and medical care is limited without employment.
Unlike parolees, who are convicted of crimes, those exonerated don't have access to corrections services.
When Taylor left prison, the state of North Carolina gave him a $45 check. It was intended to get him a hotel room and back on his feet. The amount makes him laugh.
Taylor spent his first day after his release at the mall, eager to trade his scratched plastic prison glasses for new ones. He passed a bakery where the aroma captivated him. In prison, sights and smells are muted, he explained. Inmates wear identical uniforms and eat the same tasteless cafeteria food.
"I could have stood there all day," he said.
Incarceration can also place strains on relationships with loved ones. For Taylor, it separated him from his wife and some of his closest friends.
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JMC Ministries Response

After reading this story of this man who spent 16 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit and now to be pretty much thrown back into society. And to think how different the world was 16 years ago. It would be quite frightening in a way. Everything you knew about the world is completely different. So much has happened in our country alone. It has to be quite a shock to your system.

I then think of the countless others not just in the U.S but around the world who are imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit. Or imprisoned because of Religious oppression which we hear about now so much more in the news. To think of how these people would react to what the world has become and how it has changed so much in just a few years. Or even a few days for example with the passing of the Health Care Reform bill here in the U.S. Life as we know, or knew is no more.  At times it is like we are just like this man we wake up and look around and everything is different. And we ask our selves "where was I when all this happened?"

Haiti Homeless Pounded By Rain and Mud

Case Against The City of Chicago For Arresting A preacher for Sharing the Gospel Goes to Federal Court

 Click to read the full story from Christian News Wire
CHICAGO, March 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, Federal Judge William T. Hart of the United States District Court, North District of Illinois, is forcing the City of Chicago to answer for what plaintiffs Pastor Frank Teesdale and members of Garfield Ridge Baptist Church contend is the City's unconstitutional prohibition of their religious exercise and speech at City of Chicago Special Events.

"The City of Chicago should not be allowed to prohibit evangelism on the public streets during public events. Pastor Teesdale and his church understand that their instructions and right to tell people of the new life available through Jesus are God-given and U.S. Constitution-protected. No one needs a City of Chicago permit to tell people of Jesus's offer of forgiveness and healing," said Plaintiffs' attorney Andy Norman of Mauck & Baker.

The court also allowed Pastor Teesdale to proceed on his claim that he was falsely arrested on July 12, 2008 at the public St. Symphorosa Family Fest. It was on that day that Pastor Teesdale along with a few others from Garfield Ridge began discussing Jesus with those walking up and down the public streets. Not too long after they began sharing Jesus' message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, Chicago police officers approached them and told them they could not be there without a permit.

Knowing that they were on public streets at a public event, Pastor Teesdale referred to their rights under the First Amendment and began to key his megaphone. Before he could even speak through the megaphone it was grabbed out of his hand, and he was placed under arrest. Teesdale was arrested and charged with "criminal trespass to property" even though he was on public property. The criminal case against Pastor Teesdale was dismissed in May 2009 when the City of Chicago failed to prosecute.

"What more appropriate place than a Church-sponsored festival held on the public streets to talk to people about Jesus?" asks Pastor Teesdale.

A copy of the judge's order (case number 09 – C4046) is available at:
www.docstoc.com/docs/30245926/Frank-Teesdale-v-City-of-Chicago.

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JMC Ministries Response

In just a week we have shared with you story after story of Christians told they can't worship God in their own Homes, A child suspended from school for sharing Bible Scripture and now this story of This preacher who was at a public Christian Event on the streets of the city and was arrested for sharing the Gospel. Even after he told the Police officers that he has the right to share under the 1st Amendment of the U.S Constitution. Even after all that they still arrested him! 

Fellow Christians This is not China, North Korea, Russia and other Communist/Socialist/Marxist Countries where this is happening It is happening HERE! In the United States Of America. The Most free country in the world as other countries call us. We have more laws that grant us freedoms most countries don't have. Or so it use to be. Now those who don't agree with what you say or do even though it is protected under these laws/rights are imprisoning and trying to fine people to quiet us and make us stop speaking out and voicing these rights which as our forefathers called our "God Given Rights"

Now this Federal Judge wants Answers from the City of Chicago! I think we all do as a Nation that is given the freedom of speech and religion under our U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. This is clearly a case of false imprisonment and the City and police who did this should have to face the consequences.

Pro BIble Ads to Run on Fox News and MSNBC

 Click to Read Full Article From Christian Post.com
 By Jennifer Riley|Christian Post Reporter
A national media campaign to promote the authority of the Bible began running commercials on Fox News, FoxNews.com and MSNBC.com on Monday.
The “I Am Not Ashamed” campaign, organized by apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis, will run commercials from March 1 to April 25 featuring individuals from different backgrounds, nationalities, ages and cultures saying they are not ashamed of the Gospel.
Organizers hope to convey the message that despite physical differences, people around the world hold in common a respect and appreciation for the relevance of God’s word in today’s world.
A print ad campaign will also run in USA Today during that period. The print ad will quote specific Bible verses that address hot-button issues today. Issues that will be addressed include abortion, marriage and religion in the public square.
Local churches are also encouraged to join the campaign by sponsoring billboards in their area that include the link to the I Am Not Ashamed website.
The various ads all point viewers to the campaign website iamnotashamed.org where people can upload videos of themselves reading or quoting the Bible. One of the main goals of the campaign is to call on Christians to join the world’s first online video Bible.
The theme of the campaign, “I Am Not Ashamed,” is inspired by the verses found in Romans 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jews, then for the Gentile.”
Organizers said they felt this is the message that America most needs to hear right now.

Taking a Hotel Bible is not Stealing

By Aefa Mulholland
Seems like these days travelers have no qualms about stuffing their luggage with a few souvenirs from their hotel room. And it's not just the towels: If it's not bolted down, it will walk. Scratch that: Even if it is bolted down, it will still walk. Hotel managers report seeing flat screen televisions and even large pieces of art leave the premises, freshly unscrewed from walls by determined guests. Not to mention door hinges, showerheads, and even luggage stands. So what's the big deal? It all adds up to $100 millions worth of items every year. While hotels don't expect you to clean them out, there are plenty of goodies you can take home guilt-free. Here is our list of what to take -- and what to leave behind lest you incur the wrath of a replacement charge.

POCKET: GIDEON BIBLES
Bibles have long been an expected amenity in hotel bedside tables. Even though they are slowly being edged out, Gideon International still places more than ten million copies of the good book in hotel rooms annually to replace those that have disappeared or are worn out. Needless to say the society is thrilled when you break the eighth commandment and take one home with you.

Click to read more from AOL Travel

ACORN Workers Charged With Felony Voter Fraud

 

Click to Read Full Story From Fox 6 Now

WITI-TV, MADISON - MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A voter registration drive that the community organizing group ACORN conducted in Milwaukee before the 2008 presidential election was marred by fraud and corruption, prosecutors said Monday.
Two former ACORN employees, Maria Miles and Kevin Clancy, were criminally charged Monday. The complaint accuses them of repeatedly trying to register the same voters more than once to meet a 20-signature-per-day quota imposed by ACORN, the embattled group that advocates for low-income people.
"Miles stated they were 'all hoodlums' working for ACORN and they all had criminal histories, and that they were going to 'do whatever they had to do' to be able to gain their money at the end of each day," Assistant Attorney General David W. Maas and special agent Peter Thelen wrote in the complaint filed in Milwaukee County.
ACORN has been devastated by a political and media firestorm created last year when conservative activists released video showing workers advising a woman posing as a prostitute how to launder earnings. Congress voted to cut federal funding for the group, which has also been dogged by allegations of voter-registration fraud.
Miles, 36, acknowledged to investigators that she tried to register Clancy's brother, a co-worker and another man at least twice each. Clancy, 26, said he signed his brother up twice, his mother four or five times and would go to the same park every day to sign up the same people so he could meet his quota, according to the complaint.
Another worker who said she was fired for not reaching the quota said she saw workers signing one another's forms, putting down names twice and "getting names out of the phone book," the complaint said.
Miles told investigators she didn't register any voters at least one day per week, and instead spent that time at the home of a co-worker who was romantically involved with their supervisor. The complaint said the supervisor would approve the workers' pay despite their lack of work.
Phone numbers were not listed for Miles and Clancy, and a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said they did not yet have attorneys. Each is charged with falsely procuring voter registration as a party to the crime, a felony that carries up to 3 1/2 years in prison.
The complaint said both worked on the drive for weeks during the summer of 2008.
Another former ACORN worker, Latoya Lewis, was sentenced last year to three years' probation for trying to register some people more than once to meet her quota.
Carolyn Castore, a former ACORN political organizer who ran the voter registration drive, said Miles and Clancy were fired after the group uncovered the fraud on its own. She called their actions "a victimless crime" since they did not lead to illegal voting. She said the supervisor would have been fired "in a nanosecond" had she been aware of his behavior.
ACORN released a statement saying records show Clancy was fired after only about two weeks of employment.
Castore acknowledged to investigators that an increase in fraud occurred when workers at an annual Juneteenth celebration in 2008 submitted bogus names. The workers had been promised the rest of the week off if they each registered at least 40 voters.
Castore told investigators that another fraud spike came in May 2008 after another group, the Community Voters Project, began signing up voters and the area became saturated with registration activity.
In a statement, ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said the drive helped thousands of Wisconsin citizens register to vote, and that ACORN staff verified information on each card and flagged duplicates.
"The small number of instances in which an employee has submitted duplicate or fraudulent voter registration cards are an example of workers attempting to defraud ACORN by passing off bad work as good work -- and the organization supports their prosecution," Whelan said.