Christian Arrested While Picketing Sees Conviction as Sign of the Times

Christian Arrested While Picketing Sees Conviction as Sign of the Times
-- Shocked at Court's Ruling, Mahoney Maintains His Ten Commandments Protest Was Lawful

(AgapePress) - A federal district judge in Washington, DC, has upheld the arrest of Christian activist Reverend Pat Mahoney, who claims his only crime was an association with the Ten Commandments. He says he couldn't believe the federal judge's decision.

Mahoney, formerly of the pro-life group Operation Rescue, is now executive director of the Christian Defense Coalition, a growing network of religious, conservative, and pro-family organizations. The well-known Christian social and political activist, in addition to being an ordained minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, is no stranger to the courts, having been arrested a number of times in the past in conjunction with protests and activism projects.

I this latest case, the Christian activist notes, "I was arrested on a public sidewalk, three years ago, for holding a sign [bearing an inscription] of the Ten Commandments." He says the United States marshal who accosted him that day told him "Reverend Mahoney, you can be here. You just can't hold that sign."

Since Mahoney chose not to surrender his sign, he says he was taken into custody. However, he contends his arrest was a blatant violation of his constitutional rights, since "I was arrested not for my conduct but for my beliefs."

The Christian activist says he plans to appeal the decision, which he describes as the worst ruling he has seen in more than 29 years of public ministry and activism. "This is a slap in the face to the First Amendment and free speech rights," he asserts, "because demonstrators are now being treated as second-class citizens."

As head of the Christian Defense Coalition, Mahoney has been active and vocal in the fight against secularist attempts to drive the Ten Commandments and other Christian symbols and expressions of faith out of the public square. In August of 2003, he was among a group of 22 Christian protesters who were arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, where they were rallying in support of former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore during his bid to stop the court-ordered removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court Building.

Mahoney says he and the other protesters arrested with him in Montgomery were taken into police custody while attempting "peacefully and prayerfully" to block the removal of the Ten Commandments monument from public display.