A federal judge sided with the city of Dearborn today in a dispute with a Christian group over the distribution of religious literature during an upcoming Arab festival. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed this week by a Christian group who says the city of Dearborn is denying it the right to roam the Arab International Festival to hand out religious literature.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds denied a motion from the Christian group for a temporary restraining order that would have prohibited the city from restricting the group from handing out literature, according to a release from the group’s attorneys.
In previous years, the California-based ministry, Arabic Christian Perspective, and its pastor, George Saieg, attended the annual Arab International Festival in Dearborn to hand out literature about Christianity on sidewalks, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
The group seeks to convert Muslims to Christianity, and the three-day festival, which will start Friday, attracts a significant number of Muslims.
This year, the Christian group says that the city has said that while it can hand out literature, it must stay in one area.
Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr. said the city strongly believes in free speech and has at least two other Christian groups who will be at the festival handing out information. O’Reilly said the California group, like other groups, is restricted to one place because of crowd control issues. The festival attracts about 250,000 people, according to organizers.
The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative group based in Ann Arbor.
“Public streets … are natural and proper places for the dissemination of information and opinion,” the lawsuit says.
Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the center, said the city is violating the group’s right to free speech by restricting its activity. A message left with the group was not returned.
The city said the lawsuit was a publicity stunt. O’Reilly said the city was never notified of the lawsuit and tried to work with the group in recent weeks.
“We embrace free speech, but we have to manage the large crowds,” O’Reilly said. “We gave them reasonable accommodations.”