Virginia: Cross displayed by Christian group deemed “offensive” at Chesapeake city park
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4588
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND MEDIA ADVISORY
June 30, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom
ADF attorney available to media
following hearing in 4th of July cross case
Cross displayed by Christian group deemed “blatantly Christian” and “offensive”
at Chesapeake city park
WHO: ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum
WHAT: Available for media interviews following preliminary injunction hearing in Christian Rights Ministries v. City of Chesapeake
WHEN: Tuesday, July 1 at 11 a.m. EDT
WHERE: N. Courtroom 3, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 600 Granby St., Norfolk
NORFOLK, Va. — Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum will be available for media interviews following a hearing Tuesday in a lawsuit over a cross that Chesapeake officials ordered out of a public park last 4th of July. ADF attorneys filed suit in April on behalf of a Christian group that set up the cross next to their booth at the park following an Independence Day parade in which the group participated.
“Christians shouldn’t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “Government officials have no right to harass or threaten citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights in public. Christians have the same free speech rights as anyone else in America.”
After the July 4 parade, Christian Rights Ministries and other groups were permitted to set up booths at Lakeside Park. A city official told CRM that the cross they set up next to their booth was “way out there” and “blatantly Christian” and ordered them to remove it. Another official told CRM that the city would forcibly remove the cross without the group’s consent and that the display was “offensive.” CRM removed the cross from the booth and has not publicly shared its message again for fear of legal action by the city (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4460).
At the hearing Tuesday, Kellum will ask the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the city that would prevent officials from any further violations of free religious expression under the U.S. Constitution while the case moves forward.
A fact sheet is available on the lawsuit, Christian Rights Ministries v. City of Chesapeake, at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/CRMFactSheet.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.