Quoting Bible in public gets Christian arrested

A man has been detained by cops at a Pennsylvania “Pride” event after arriving with a sign explaining that Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.”

And it’s all on video:

The report comes from “Barely Preacher Man,” who described the circumstance.

“Today, as our family was driving out of Reading for a family adventure, we saw that there was a Pride rally at the City Hall building in Reading City. I saw two Christian protesters out there, and so I pulled us over and I came out to support and encourage them,” he said.

“I preached for 10 minutes or so until a tyrant cop laid hands on me and threatened to arrest me if I continued. 10 minutes later, another Christian protester came out. He stood his ground against the cop, and got arrested as shown in the clip,” he said.

“Most of the attendants, drag queens and children had come from out of town, either Lancaster, or as far away as New York. The locals in Reading were not ‘out in droves.’ The Gospel went out, but it got pretty rough pretty quickly. Didn’t have my GoPro or anything because I had no idea this was going on today. Just the Providence of God that we drove by it.”

On the video, by Barely Preacher Man, he’s watching and filming the gay fest, talking about his own experience. The additional protester then arrives with his sign.

There’s a brief exchange between him and a police officer, who turns away, only to a few seconds later charge the man, wrap his hands behind him and handcuff him. The sign-carrier then is marched down the block and around the corner and detained.

A report from WFMZ noted the Pride events, including the rally at city hall and a march that ended at city park, where there was a picnic, performances and speeches.

There was no mention of the cops’ attack on the speech of protesters.

Social media commenters were not nice to the officer:

“I guess the First Amendment means nothing in Reading.”

“These police officers were expressing their disapproval of the Gospel – while wearing a badge and a gun. Shameful.”

“This was an unlawful arrest.”

“Everyone has the right to freedom of speech.”

“I am not even a Christian but this was wrong…”

The Lancaster Patriot identified the man who was arrested as Damon Atkins, and confirmed “it took less than 60 seconds of standing on a sidewalk” for him to be handcuffed “for quoting a portion of a Bible verse.”

Matthew Wear was making the video, and told the publication police also had warned him from preaching.

The officer was identified as Sgt. Bradly T. McClure.

“Atkins told The Lancaster Patriot that he was going to quote a portion of 1 Corinthians 14:33 – ‘God is not the author of confusion’ – but did not finish the quote because he stopped when he was handcuffed by McClure.”

McClure claimed, “[Atkins] was carrying a sign with a slogan written on it that showed his opposition to the event.”

McClure also claimed Atkins was yelling at the people across the street.

“I immediately approached him and told him that, while he was free to stand on that side of the street and hold his sign,” McClure claimed, “he could not cross the street nor yell comments intended to disrupt the event.”

The report noted the video “does not show Atkins agreeing to remain silent and Atkins told The Lancaster Patriot that he never agreed to McClure’s instructions.”

Police claimed he had the “intent to cause substantial public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior.”

By Rachael Shieley