[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12008]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         CHRISTIANS ARRESTED FOR PASSING OUT BIBLES IN AMERICA

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, four Christian missionaries were 
recently arrested for disorderly conduct. What was their behavior that 
got them arrested? These four Christians were peacefully handing out 
the Gospel of John outside an Arab cultural festival.
  Now, the festival was not a private or even a Muslim event. It was an 
Arab festival, free and open to the public. A video shows the Christian 
group, that included a former Muslim, outside, about a block away from 
that event. They were standing quietly on the corner handing out 
Bibles, when they were arrested by no less than eight police officers.
  Now, under sharia law it is forbidden to preach Christianity to a 
Muslim. But, Madam Speaker, these discriminatory arrests against 
Christians did not occur in a Muslim country; they occurred in 
Dearborn, Michigan.
  The First Amendment of our Constitution safeguards freedom of speech 
and freedom of religious expression even for Christians. Maybe the 
police in Dearborn, Michigan, haven't read the Constitution. These 
arrests are shameful, whether the police in Dearborn, Michigan, like it 
or not.
  And that's just the way it is.

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