Appeals Court: Quoting the Bible is Not a Crime

Jul 16, 2009

Appeals Court: Quoting The Bible Is Not A Crime

On Tuesday, July 14, 2009, a Michigan state appeals court exonerated a Christian minister who was put under house arrest because he quoted Biblical passages warning that God would punish the judge who sentenced him. After a coalition of a dozen religious and civil rights groups filed an amicus brief in defense of Rev. Edward Pinkney’s ability to speak and preach freely, state prosecutors admitted to the appeals court that it would be wrong to revoke the minister’s probation for quoting the Bible. The appeals court’s decision recognized the government’s capitulation.

“The prosecution saw the writing on the wall and wisely decided to yield to a higher power—the Constitution,” said Eric Rassbach , the Becket Fund’s National Director of Litigation. “Our country was founded on the idea that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. The right to preach freely is one of those rights.”

Pinkney wrote an article in the Chicago-area People’s Tribune quoting language from the Bible (the Book of Deuteronomy) that God would punish the judge for his wrongdoing. The lower court then revoked Pinkney’s probation because the Biblical quotes were “threatening.” The civil rights coalition, which includes the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the American Jewish Congress, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and Liberty Legal Institute, among others, filed a friend of the court brief asking the appeals court to overturn the trial court’s order.

To read the amicus brief, click here.

To read Rev. Pinkney’s article, click here.

To read the appeals court decision, click here.

For more information or to arrange an interview with one of the attorneys, email Kristina Arriaga, Communications Director, at karriaga@becketfund.org, or call 703.582.8962, or contact Montserrat Alvarado, Assistant Communications Director, at malvarado@becketfund.org.

Based in Washington, D.C., The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a nonpartisan public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions.


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