Street preachers return to Duluth tour of lights
December 6, 2012 at 3:02 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Nathan Bentley questioned whether the Bentleyville Tour of Lights would remain at Bayfront Festival Park after Wednesday’s court decision defending the rights of two street preachers to full access of the display.
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“Freedom of speech carries with it the inherent right not to listen” Hubert Humphrey
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Why would someone fear an all knowing all loving God? I thougt fire and brimstone went out with the dark ages.
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Good lord Bentley, charge the people a penny. I highly doubt there’d be anyone who’d object to paying that to keep these scumbags away.
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“Neither of the preachers seen Thursday could be heard beyond the conversations they had with people who chose to stop.” Here are two guys at a free event located in a public park and open to the general public. They are voicing their beliefs at a volume that cannot be heard beyond those with whom they are speaking. One wears a signboard advising readers to fear God because they will stand before him and give an account of their life, and they hand literature to those willing to take it. This scene is so tame that it does not even come close to pushing the boundaries of protected speech.
Mr. Bentley does not like this and says that he has taken special care to keep the event free of “commercialization.” It is rather ironic that, in this Christmas season, he views a public plea for spiritual salvation via Christ as a commercial eyesore. It is not like these guys are attempting to entice people with promises of material fulfillment if only they can acquire the latest electronics, fanciest cars, and a mansion on the Lake.
The city’s imposition of the “First Amendment Zone” (without consulting City Council) in response to two guys’ public speech should be ludicrous in an America that cherishes its dearly won liberty. If they had been shouting at people (or if there had been hordes of evangelists preventing the free flow of people through the park), the city already had the power to cart them away on charges like disorderly conduct.
But this was two reasonably quiet guys in a park of more than four acres…
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The Bible is the biggest piece of propaganda that ever hit papyrus. There is no God. Goodness is within each of us if we choose to live by it.
I don’t object to the Keep Christ in Christmas movement as long as it doesn’t impinge on individual liberty. Equally, I vehemently object to the banning of “Merry Christmas” being spoken in schools, etc – and all the symbolism of Christmas being wiped away.
In spite of not having an official religion, the United States was founded on Christian principles – not Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or otherwise. Those principles are enshrined in our Constitution.
We just observed Thanksgiving. The English settlers who landed at Plymouth Rock weren’t called Pilgrims because the label just sounded good to the ear. They were seeking refuge to practice their own religion without persecution.
Therefore, I say…. Live and let live but don’t trample on my freedom.
I don’t know what motivates these two individuals with placards and scripture. Mr Bentley is willing good will to the community with lights and musical joy. The Salvation Army donation box is right there with it. What more can you ask of this?
Should those two preachers really want to do something worthwhile, why don’t they stand outside Walmart, Miller Hill Mall or Target.
The real culprit is the consumer market that American corporations created and the consumer society that has evolved from it.
This false economy is what has broken down families, communities and the economic backbone of our country. The US has exported this consumer-driven economic model around the globe and it has now infected the PRC “China”. It won’t be long before we’re all working to satisfy Chinese demand for goods and services.
Money, money, money. How holy is that?
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Did anyone happen to notice, that the Duluth Tribue ran a story on Friday Dec.14th, about how that street preacher that keeps causing all the problems is a Minnesota registered sex offender? He was convicted in 2004 of sexual assult on a 13 year old girl while he was a teacher in Cass county.
So the tribune runs that story, without a “talk back” area, and the same day, tucks way any topics discussions on the online paper, that are related to those clown preachers. Go figure.
Talk about trying to curb public input! What a joke the Tribune is!
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