Islamic Center of America, Dearborn, Michigan
Some good news for a Monday morning!
Last Friday, a jury acquitted four Christian missionaries who were accused of inciting a crowd at an Arab festival last June.
On June 19, 2010, in Dearborn, Michigan, four Christian misisonaries stood outside the entrance to an Arab International Festival and tried to peacefully distribute copies of the Gospel of John. Not only were they not violating any law, their activities were fully within our Constitution rights as U.S. citizens.
In lightning speed, within a matter of three minutes, eight Dearborn police officers surrounded the Christians, ordered them to cease and desist, and then arrested the missionaries. [See HERE for more.]
Last Friday, Nabeel Qureshi of Virginia, Negeen Mayel of California and Paul Rezkalla and David Wood, both of New York, were acquitted of breach of peace, 19th District Court officials in Dearborn said after the verdict. Mayel was found guilty of failure to obey a police officer’s order.
The four are members of a Christian group called Acts 17 Apologetics, who, according to the group’s Web site, “refute the arguments of those who oppose the true gospel, most commonly the arguments of Muslims and atheists.” They maintain that Islam is a false religion and inherently violent.
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.
Despite the jury verdict of acquital, Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr. said Friday night that he respects the decision, but the missionaries were anti-Muslim bigots pulling a publicity stunt to gain attention on YouTube in order to raise money.
According to the 2000 Census, 30,000 or 33.4% of Dearborn’s population of 97,775 are of Arab ancestry – the largest proportion of Arab Americans for a city of its size (about 100,000). Dearborn is also the location of the Islamic Center of America, the largest mosque in North America. [Source: Wikipedia]
H/t Weasel Zippers.
~Eowyn
