Man sues for Florida witnessing arrest

The Alliance Defense Fund has filed suit on behalf of John Shaffer, a Florida man who was arrested outside a Jacksonville shopping center in late 2005 for witnessing about his Christian faith. Religious speech, says ADF, cannot be singled out for discrimination.

A man's public arrest for speaking out about his faith outside a Jacksonville, Florida, shopping center is the focus of a new lawsuit against the city, which includes a temporary injunction request to keep the municipality from arresting him again.

John Shaffer has filed in U.S. District Court through Alliance Defense Fund, claiming a violation of Constitutional free speech. Shaffer was witnessing in October 2005 at the Jacksonville Landing Shopping Center when he was told to either stop speaking or leave the premises, and was arrested when he did neither.

ADF attorneys for Shaffer say speaking in public is not a crime, and that religious speech cannot be singled out for discrimination. They are asking the federal court to prohibit the city from blocking his speech while the case moves forward.