Pastor can hand out Bibles to bikers at Wis. city's Harley-Davidson Festival

Alliance Defending Freedom letter prompts city of Greenfield to respect First Amendment

Wednesday, Sep 4, 2013

Attorney sound bites: Jon Scruggs | Kevin Theriot

GREENFIELD, Wis. — The city of Greenfield agreed Friday to allow a pastor to continue distributing Bibles on public streets at a Harley-Davidson Festival after receiving a letter from Alliance Defending Freedom. Police had threatened the pastor with arrest for peacefully handing out the Bibles to willing passers-by at the festival.

“No one should be threatened with arrest simply because they choose to exercise their First Amendment freedoms in a public place,” said Legal Counsel Jon Scruggs. “We commend the city for promptly agreeing to respect the constitutionally protected right of this pastor and all Americans to peacefully distribute faith-based literature.”

On Aug. 28, David Murray went to West Layton Avenue to express his religious faith and distribute Bibles during the Harley-Davidson Festival, which is free and open to the public. Security officers and Greenfield police officers ordered Murray to stop expressing his beliefs and to move to the adjacent sidewalk behind the festival vendors, an area no one accesses.

Murray’s friend Dan Lawrence then tried to convince a police captain to allow him and Murray to distribute Bibles in the festival area. But the captain reiterated that neither man is allowed to distribute Bibles on the street inside the festival.

As the Alliance Defending Freedom letter explained, “Lawrence desires to convey his religious beliefs through activities protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. According to the Supreme Court, oral and written dissemination of religious viewpoints are entitled to the utmost constitutional protection.”

The letter also explained that “expression in a traditional public forum deserves the highest level of protection, and any infringement of speech activity there must overcome great scrutiny.”

Greenfield’s police chief wrote in an e-mail to Alliance Defending Freedom on Friday that “personnel have been advised to allow your client’s activity within the public streets, sidewalks and right of way.”

“The government should not harass and threaten citizens for exercising their constitutionally protected freedoms in public,” added Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The city of Greenfield has rightly understood this, and we will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that this pastor’s freedom to share his faith is respected. The First Amendment specifically protects every American’s freedom of speech and religious expression.”

Pronunciation guide: Theriot (TAIR’-ee-oh)

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

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Legal Documents

Letter to City of Greenfield: (2013-09-06)

Related Resources

ABOUT Jonathan Scruggs

Jonathan Scruggs serves as senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy and the Center for Conscience Initiatives with Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, he identifies new litigation opportunities and develops new strategies for protecting free speech and religious liberty in collaboration with the chief legal counsel and litigation team directors. As the leader for the Center for Conscience Initiatives, Scruggs oversees the litigation team defending the rights of professionals and business owners to live out their faith as well as the litigation efforts to protect equal opportunities for women in athletics. Since joining ADF in 2006, Scruggs has worked on and prevailed in a variety of cases that protect the right of people to freely express their faith in their business, at school, and in the public square. He earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona and Tennessee. Scruggs is also admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal district and appellate courts.

ABOUT Kevin Theriot

Kevin Theriot serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is a key member of the Center for Life Team working to defend pro-life laws and speech and protect medical rights of conscience. He has litigated cases in the areas of religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family. Theriot is admitted to the bar in eight states, the U.S. Supreme Court, and numerous other federal courts of appeal and district courts. Theriot received his law degree from Vanderbilt University and has been litigating First Amendment issues since 1993.