St. Paul church protest prompts crime bill. Does it infringe First Amendment rights?
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A group of Republican Minnesota lawmakers is pushing for a law to prohibit disruptions of worship services.
The bill comes after an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest interrupted services in January at Cities Church in St. Paul. That protest led to federal criminal charges against a number of protesters and journalists who were present.
To talk about the complex questions about freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press the bill brings up — and how to protect one freedom without diminishing the others — University of St Thomas law professor Thomas Berg joined Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition.
Disruption, like when people discovered that a Cities Church pastor worked for ICE and wanted parishioners to know, prompting a protest, can already be prosecuted under ordinary laws of disturbing the peace or disorderly conduct, Berg said. The proposed bill tries to be more specific.
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There is some tension, or at least a trade-off, between how lawmakers could feasibly protect the rights to freedom of religion without diminishing freedom of speech, assembly and the press, Berg said.
“The protesters would have every right to stand outside the church and protest. They could protest loudly. They could make it sort of uncomfortable for people to walk into that church, but they couldn't physically block access to the church,” Berg explained. “Inside the church, you have the right to be there, and I would think the right to put up a silent sign would be a pretty sympathetic case, but not the right to disrupt the church.”
The fallout of the protest was nationwide. Other legislatures, including in South Dakota, Oklahoma and Iowa, are pushing to create similar laws protecting worshippers' rights at the urging of Christian leaders.
In Minnesota, the “proposed law falls on the line of entering the worship service with an intent to disrupt it, and then committing a crime within the church. So I think, as they've drafted it, it falls on the line of preventing interference with worship, the permissible kind of law,” he said.
The bill has a hearing in the House Public Safety Finance and Policy at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.
