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PJI Defends Pastor Accused of 'Hate Crime' for Distributing Tracts

(AgapePress) - A California pastor has won a major victory for free speech after being accused of a hate crime by a Muslim individual who objected to the tracts the minister was distributing.

Pastor Audie Yancey is a retired U.S. Marine Corps veteran with 20 years of service. Recently, he appeared at the Palmdale City Council meeting holding a copy of the Qur'an and handing out a Christian tract that illustrated the link between Islam and the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

The tract featured a picture of an American flag and beneath it the words, "Remember 9/11: In the name of Allah they brought destruction and death to thousands. In the name of Jesus Christ you can have eternal life."

A Muslim cleric who saw what Yancey was handing out contacted the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force and filed a grievance. In his complaint, he accused Yancey of committing a hate crime by distributing 200 of the gospel tracts.

Attorney Karen Milam, senior counsel for the Southern California office of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), represented the pastor before the task force, arguing that the "hate crime" allegations were completely unfounded.

PJI president Brad Dacus says the case has now been resolved. "The good news is that the charges were completely dropped, and a message was clearly [sent] that religious freedom in this country is still protected," he says.

The Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force's legal counsel, Superior Court Judge Stella Owens Murrell, agreed with PJI that no hate crime had been committed, and the matter was dismissed. But Dacus says while he and PJI "are pleased that freedom prevailed in this case," that organization and others must press forward to protect Christians' religious liberty and free speech rights.

PJI will continue to work hard to ensure that pastors like Audie Yancey are not muzzled by intolerance, Dacus insists. "If we allow Islamic clerics to silence pastors and Christians in this country," he adds, "then we have lost, without question, not only the war against terrorism but, even more importantly, the war against Christianity and religious freedom."