Legal Commentary

Christian Missionaries Acquitted of Disturbing the Peace at Dearborn Arab Festival

By Eugene Volokh

The Detroit Free Press reports:

A jury acquitted on Friday four Christian missionaries who were accused of inciting a crowd while videotaping themselves proselytizing to Muslims at the Dearborn Arab International Festival in June.... [The missionaries] were acquitted of breach of peace .... [One of the four] was found guilty of failure to obey a police officer?s order.... They were charged in July with disorderly conduct after police said they received a complaint from a Christian volunteer working at the festival who said he was harassed by the group....

Dearborn Mayor Jack O?Reilly Jr. was quoted as saying that, ?It?s [apparently referring to the missionaries? message ?EV] really about a hatred of Muslims.? ?That is what the whole heart of this is.... Their idea is that there is no place for Muslims in America. They fail to understand the Constitution.? Well, the Constitution protects speech that argues that ?there is no place for Muslims in America,? and it certainly protects speech that aims at converting Muslims to Christianity ? or Christians to Islam.

Thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on September 27, 2010 (boomark / email).