From here:
CALGARY — A controversial street preacher and some of his followers have become enmeshed in another feud with city hall, after they were arrested Tuesday for trespassing following a short-lived prayer circle in the atrium of the Municipal Building.
[….]
Church members were escorted out by police, but then returned in an attempt to speak to Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
That’s when six people were arrested for trespassing, which carries a $287 fine. All were released and issued court summonses.
I’m sure I speak for us all when I say that I sleep easier at night in the sure knowledge that Municipal Buildings will remain prayer–free zones thanks to the unyielding vigilance of our intrepid constabulary.
Naheed Nenshi is the first mulsim mayor in Canada. Anyone wonder why nothing is done in Calgary to protect the religous freedom of Christians? Anyone care to speculate on what would have happened if it had been a group of mulsims praying in the municipal building?
But if OWS set up a tent (which I think they did) that would be ok?
You missed this bit:
Their right to pray in a muninicipal building isn’t being taken away from them. Their “right” to do it ‘so as to be seen by men’ seems to have been – and we aren’t supposed to be praying like that anyway. I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for them. If all they really wanted to do was pray, they could have walked in, sat on a bench, bowed their heads and prayed silently, and nobody would have noticed or cared.
I didn’t actually say that they have a right to do what they did on municipal property although I did imply that the police reaction was draconian. And I still think it was.
On a side note, some years ago St. Hilda’s used to take a Christmas musical into malls, with permission of the mall management. It was explicitly Christian and in one instance, because one person complained about it being Christian, we were thrown out mid-performance.
Whether you agree with the tactics of Art Pawlowski and his merry men or not, our society has become thoroughly intolerant of public expressions of Christianity and I suspect that was a major factor in how they were treated.
I don’t think it was draconian. This was the third time they’d held a prayer meeting with singing there, after having being told that they needed a permit. It just seems like attention seeking to me, not worship.
Why the Lies?
There is a lot of buzz on the Internet regarding our arrest outside the mayor’s office at Calgary’s old City Hall, and about who’s problem this matter is anyway (Mayor Nenshi or Mayor Bronconnier)? Some have suggested that the current mayor has nothing to do with the matter of Street Church vs the City, but that this matter is really just the remaining remnants of a previous battle between the street preacher, Artur Pawlowski, and the former mayor Dave Bronconnier…
more here: http://streetchurch.ca/index.php/20120106821/News/Media/Why-the-Lies.html