City sued for arresting pastor on public sidewalk
Police take just 195 seconds to detain ‘peaceful’ Christian leader
By Bob Unruh
A lawsuit has been filed against the city of Wichita, Kan., and several of its police officers on behalf of a Christian pastor arrested just for being on public property.
The civil-rights suit was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, an advocacy organization that defends constitutional rights, on behalf of Mark Holick, pastor of Spirit One Christian Center.
Spirit One also has been threatened by the Internal Revenue Service with an audit for posting messages on its marquee dealing with the value of human life, based on dozens of Bible references.
Holick’s arrest happened last summer when a homosexual festival was being held in a public park in Wichita. He went to share his Christian faith on public property, and it took only a little longer than three minutes after his arrival for police officers to arrest him.
According to the records in the case, Holick had contacted the police department a week before the event and expressed his desire to communicate his religious views on the date of the homosex-fest. He was told he couldn’t go into Heritage Square Park where it was being held but was told the sidewalk would be his “friend.”
The trespassing charges later were dropped, but that doesn’t solve the issue, according to the ADF.
“Exercising your First Amendment rights is not a crime,” said Joel Oster, ADF senior legal counsel. “Arresting Christians simply because they choose to exercise those rights in a public place is unconstitutional.”