Posted: June 19, 2009
8:23 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh (edited)
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A federal judge has upheld a decision by festival organizers in  Dearborn, Mich., which is about 30 percent Muslim, to ban a Christian ministry from handing out religious information on public sidewalks. “It’s ironic that while Americans are applauding the free speech exercised by hundreds of thousands of Muslims on the streets of Iran, the American city of Dearborn is restricting free speech rights Christians are attempting to exercise on the city’s public sidewalks,” said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center.

On June 19-21, 2009, the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, ACCESS, City of Dearborn, and Lebanese American Heritage Club will transform more than a half mile on Warren Avenue in the heart of America’s East Dearborn into the largest Arab international festival in the nation.

The Dearborn Arab International Festival is a cultural celebration that attracts mostly Muslim people from Michigan , the Midwest, and Canada . This celebration of cultures will feature ethnic performances representing the diverse heritage of the people of Southeast Michigan .  It boasts a great number of amusements, live musical acts-both local and international, 30 international food booths, coffee cup readings, henna, arts and crafts, a children’s tent, artisans, Arab merchandise, and a giant old-fashioned Ferris wheel that overlooks East Dearborn . 

More than 300,000 people participate in the festival each year, a representation of middle eastern cultures that reside in Metro Detroit. The festival enjoyed press from all the media outlets in Detroit and extensive exposure in the Arab World and Arab American communities in the United States . 

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The case is being brought on behalf of the Arabic Christian Perspective, a Christian group that ministers to Muslims. According to the Thomas More Law Center , Pastor George Saieg and scores of his volunteers have visited Dearborn for the city’s Arab International Festival to hand out religious information several times.

At estimated 30,000 of Dearborn ‘s nearly 100,000 residents are Muslim.

While there never has been a disruption of the public peace during the five years the ministry has been attending, this year Dearborn police warned the Christians of  Saieg’s ministry that he and his group would not be allowed to walk the public sidewalks to hand out information and instead would be confined to a specific spot, the lawsuit said. Wouldn’t Peter still hand them out, because he would rather obey God than man?

After negotiations in Dearborn failed to restore the Christians’ rights, the lawsuit was filed.

“This case involves an important constitutional question regarding the government’s ability to prohibit peaceful speech activities,” said Law Center attorney Robert Muise, who argued for the Christians’ rights before Edmonds .

“This preliminary ruling, while disappointing, will not affect the remainder of the case. We intend to pursue this as far as necessary,” he said.

Mary Landroche, director of the city’s department of public information, said the judge’s ruling agreed the city had the right to establish rules for maintaining order.

“[She] did agree with the city we have an interest in controlling the crowds,” Landroche told WND. She said the city’s rules are “content-neutral,” but she could not provide information about any other group impacted by the change.

But she said the city decided the public sidewalks are “part of the festival grounds.”

Fay Beydoun of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce in Dearborn told the Detroit News there was “no problem” with the Christians being at the event, “but we do have to think about the safety of everyone.” Translation: Muslims would try to kill the Christians.

The complaint said public streets are properly considered a traditional public forum.

“The Supreme Court has emphasized that the streets are natural and proper places for the dissemination of information and opinion; and one is not to have the exercise of his liberty of expression inappropriately abridged on the plea that it may be exercised in some other place,” the complaint said.

The complaints cited a police statement that the Christians would be classified among “political parties and protesters,” and would be limited to a single