Federal court issues ruling defending public religious speech

 BATON ROUGE, La. — A federal court judge issued a preliminary ruling Friday affirming the free speech of a Christian man who was threatened with arrest for engaging in “annoying” speech while sharing a religious message outside of a bar in the city of Zachary.  The Christian man, John Todd Netherland, is represented by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys in the case.

“Christians should not be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to free speech,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. “Mr. Netherland’s religious speech cannot be silenced because someone claims the Gospel message is ‘annoying.’  We hope as this case moves forward that the constitutional right of Mr. Netherland and other Christians to share their religious faith in Zachary will be affirmed.”

On November 18, 2006, John Todd Netherland stood outside on a public easement to speak about his Christian faith, approximately 75-100 feet from the entrance of a local bar.  After being threatened with arrest by a local police officer, Netherland left the area and subsequently called ADF for legal help.  On June 11, ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit on his behalf.  On Friday, the judge ruled that the ordinance used to silence Netherland was likely unconstitutional. 

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.