Christ First Forum

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Legal/Default.aspx?id=1514230


A California apologist notes that officials of one city had no grounds for arresting three Christians for reading out loud from the Bible.

Arraignments were postponed for two Christians who were arrested outside a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Hemet for reading their Bible. Brett Coronado, who was an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel, Hemet, and Mark Mackey, who worked in the church's evangelism ministry, each face one misdemeanor count for creating a disturbance. Defense attorneys asked the court to postpone the hearing until March 2.

The two men were arrested for reading from the Bible to roughly 50 individuals waiting in line outside the DMV. A security guard told Mackey to stop, and when Mackey refused, a police officer was called and Mackey was arrested. Coronado and another church elder then asked the police officer what law Mackey broke, but instead of an answer, they were arrested as well. Lenny Esposito, president of Come Reason Ministries, argues that there was no legitimate cause for the arrest.

"From a legal perspective, I think the officer mishandled the situation, and I don't know that he had grounds for arresting these individuals," he says.

Officials say Coronado and Mackey could not preach on state property without a permit. But attorneys for the two men say the First Amendment rights of their clients were violated, and Esposito believes the men will not face jail time.

"I don't think so,” he tells OneNewsNow. “I think they just wanted to shut them up and the terms will be dropped and they'll let them go."