A former Muslim who is now a Christian pastor claims his rights were violated when he was arrested for playing Christian music in a park.
Azim Shariat, an Iranian who came to the U.S. 30 years ago and became a citizen, converted from Islam to Christianity in 1981 and is now a pastor. Several years ago, he attended a Persian New Year's festival at a public park in Orange County, California, where tens of thousands of other celebrants were gathered.
While there, Shariat took out a portable radio/audiocassette player he had brought along and began playing Christian songs. Someone in the predominately Muslim crowd complained to police, who arrested the Christian festival attendee for allegedly violating a noise ordinance.
Shariat was shocked when the police accosted him, especially since many other people in the park were playing other types of music. But after what the minister describes as his humiliating, public arrest and physical mistreatment while in custody, the County decided not to prosecute and the charges against him were eventually dropped.
Pastor Shariat filed suit against Orange County, challenging the way the ordinance he had been charged with violating was applied. However, the initial trial court ruling did not go in the minister's favor. Although several law enforcement officers testified with widely differing views of what the law required and to whom it should be applied, the trial court nevertheless ruled in the County's favor that the law was not vague.
At the request of the Christian minister's attorneys, the case was reviewed by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a pro-family legal defense organization. Upon their review, the group's attorneys became convinced that Orange County had violated Shariat's constitutional rights. PJI has now submitted a friend-of-the-court, or amicus, brief on the pastor's behalf to the California Court of Appeals.
According to PJI president Brad Dacus, Shariat's case proves that religious intolerance is not only to be found in Middle Eastern or other foreign nations with anti-Christian regimes or atheistic totalitarian governments. It also rears its head, he points out, in many places throughout the free world -- even in America.
"Religious intolerance is not confined to dark corners of the world like Iran," Dacus asserts. "It is on the prowl in Orange County. We are hopeful that the Court of Appeals will heed the warning signs and vindicate Pastor Shariat."
The PJI spokesman points out that, in filing suit, the former Muslim plaintiff was not only seeking redress of the injustice done to him, but was also trying to strike a blow against religious intolerance and anti-Christian bias. "Azim realized that this is something he didn't want to see happen to pastors here in the United States of America and filed a lawsuit challenging this outrageous action of hostility to Christianity," the attorney says.
"Any pastor, or any individual for that matter, should be free to be able to express themselves in public forums like public parks," Dacus contends. They should "not be persecuted," he adds, "simply because their message is one of Christianity and not one of Islam."
The Sacramento, California-based Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit legal defense organization that specializes in defending religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties. Through its attorneys and supporters, the group works to defend the rights of individuals, families, and churches free of charge.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
(c) 2006, Agape Press
