How Far Will Liberal Activists Go to Shut Down Speech They Dislike?
12/12/2005 12:11:00 PM
By Peter LaBarbera, IFI Executive Director
 | Signs like this are just too much for the Madison City Council, which is doing all it can to ban Pastor Ralph Ovadal (the man holding the sign, at the left) from exercising his free speech rights. (Click photo to enlarge.) |
Ovadal v. City of Madison; First they break the law; then they change it!
Editor's note: Ralph Ovadal, founder of the group Wisconsin Christians United (which now operates as Pilgrims Covenant Church), is a friend of mine and one of the bravest people I know. Few men in this nation have been as harassed and demonized as Pastor Ovadal--simply for standing up for the right-to-life of the unborn, and against the homosexual agenda. Ovadal was even assaulted by a homosexual activist, and--surprise!--no "hate crime" charges were filed against the assailant. Christians and anyone who cares about the threat that the "sexual orientation" agenda poses to our freedoms should read this release carefully:
Today (Monday, December 12), Federal Judge John Shabaz will preside over the latest round in the case Ovadal v. City of Madison. At issue is whether the City of Madison has acted unconstitutionally in banning Pastor Ralph Ovadal from proclaiming a biblical message on homosexuality from caged-in pedestrian overpasses on Hwy. 18/151 and 12/14 in Madison.
On September 2, 2003, Pastor Ovadal and a number of Christians with him were forced from one such overpass by Madison police who said the message "Homosexuality is sin" and "Christ can set you free" was causing some motorists to react in an angry fashion. This, of course, is a classic case of the heckler's veto being employed by law enforcement to silence religious speech. The police also banned Pastor Ovadal from exercising his religious liberty on any Beltline overpass at any time.
After the City of Madison refused Pastor Ovadal's request for a clarification of city policy and a restoration of his constitutional right to express his religious beliefs, Attorney Nate Kellum filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Pastor Ovadal. On July 7, 2004, in a strangely abbreviated hearing, Judge Shabaz ruled in the city's favor. On July 19, 2005, a three-judge federal appeals court panel reversed the decision, ruling in favor of Pastor Ovadal. But amazingly, that court also remanded the case back to the lower court in order to give the City of Madison another shot at somehow justifying its action against Pastor Ovadal.
The City of Madison is claiming that Christians standing quietly on pedestrian overpasses on the Beltline highway displaying biblical messages about homosexuality is distracting to drivers passing underneath. Meanwhile, the Beltline is littered with huge--in some cases, very provocative--billboards; and the overpasses themselves also have many different traffic and informational signs posted on them. In addition, during this latest trial phase, Atty. Kellum will be presenting video tapes and pictures showing anti-war protesters and John Kerry supporters, including a City of Madison councilman, holding signs, even huge banners, on Beltline overpasses. All of these incidents took place after Madison police forced Pastor Ovadal and those with him off of a Beltline overpass.
Judge Shabaz will be presented with well-documented, unimpeachable proof that the Kerry people, who were also preaching through a bull horn, were left unmolested on the overpasses for hours! In fact, they were never told, or even asked, to leave by Madison police!"On November 29, the Madison City Council voted to ban all First Amendment activity on any overpass in Madison which spans a highway on which the speed limit is forty miles per hour or more. In a last ditch attempt to cover their bias against Christians and for homosexuals, the city council is throwing the baby out with the bath water just to ensure that no biblical messages against homosexuality are displayed on city overpasses! They are also working themselves into another federal court case.
All of this to ensure that my church will not proclaim biblical truth from City of Madison overpasses three or four times a year! Meanwhile, we proclaim that identical message from I-90/I-94 overpasses in the City of Milwaukee with no problems from the city at all! Of course, Madison is the same city which churned out a resolution in 1998 condemning billboards put up by my ministry on the Beltline highway. By sheer coincidence, those billboards also contained biblical messages about homosexuality." --Ralph Ovadal, pastor, Pilgrims Covenant Church
For more information, call Pilgrims Covenant Church (formerly Wisconsin Christians United) at 608-328-4841. Pilgrims Covenant Church - P.O. Box 314, Monroe, WI 53566 - 608-328-4841 - www.pccmonroe.org
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