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Close Topic OptionsArrested At Mall For Talking About God
Arrested Mall Talking God - General Religious Beliefs - Posted: 16th Feb, 2010 - 10:21pm
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Arrested At Mall For Talking About God
What do you think about this case? Has the man the right to talk about God to anyone he wants in the mall or his arrest is justified?
QUOTE Imagine getting arrested for just striking up a conversation about religion in public.
That's what happened to California resident Matthew Snatchko in 2006 when the youth pastor initiated a conversation about God with three shoppers at the Roseville Galleria mall.
The women gave Snatchko permission to broach the subject, but a nearby store employee said they "looked nervous," so he ordered the evangelist to leave. After Snatchko refused, mall security arrested him.
"He was put in handcuffs and hauled down to the mall's security station and later booked at the local jail," said Snatchko's attorney Matthew McReynolds of the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom.
Snatchko was later released and never charged with a crime, but he and the Justice Institute decided to challenge the constitutionality of Roseville Galleria's restrictions on conversations about topics such as religion and politics.
"He wanted to make sure that neither he nor anybody else got harassed again at this mall or the 55 other malls this company owns throughout the United States," said McReynolds....
That's what happened to California resident Matthew Snatchko in 2006 when the youth pastor initiated a conversation about God with three shoppers at the Roseville Galleria mall.
The women gave Snatchko permission to broach the subject, but a nearby store employee said they "looked nervous," so he ordered the evangelist to leave. After Snatchko refused, mall security arrested him.
"He was put in handcuffs and hauled down to the mall's security station and later booked at the local jail," said Snatchko's attorney Matthew McReynolds of the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom.
Snatchko was later released and never charged with a crime, but he and the Justice Institute decided to challenge the constitutionality of Roseville Galleria's restrictions on conversations about topics such as religion and politics.
"He wanted to make sure that neither he nor anybody else got harassed again at this mall or the 55 other malls this company owns throughout the United States," said McReynolds....
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God Talking Mall Arrested
Hmm. Interesting happening. I can see people not wanting to be accosted, and I think this was really more about people not wanting to be "preached at" or having someone try to convert them, than simply talking "about God". It is different from people asking for donations to charities because as most people see it, even though this case may not be asking for money, they don't see the ultimate "good cause" it is being done for, even their own "salvation" or whatever.
I do think the mall worker was out of line, if the ladies gave the guy permission to talk to them, then that is their business and if they didn't actually want to and felt guilted into it, then they should have either stood their ground and politely refused or even ignored him, as they should likely have learned to do by now, or will need to - people can't be "rescued" from a non-existent crisis.
I myself would have just said "Nahh" and gone on by the guy, as I've learned to do at least that much of a confrontation because of my anxiety of being around people, in order to avoid a more acute experience of it, but not everybody develops this type of "shield".
TOPIC: Arrested At Mall For Talking About God