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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 3:48
PM
Subject: [TruthTalk] street
preachers/free speech
Kevin writes:
LDS church wants Salt lake City to favor one religion over
another.
Blaine: Is that your conclusion from reading this? It
sounds to me like they (the LDS Church) are desperate to get away from the
uncalled for and unasked for preaching of the street preachers, who deem it
their right to harrass decent people whose only objective is to attend a
worship service and partake of the Lord's spirit, and listen to their
prophets encourage living Christian, honorable lives.
The street preachers are the ones showing
their obviously bigoted favoritism to their own
religion over that of the Saints. This is, as I have said before, the
pot calling the kettle black, Kevin. In almost every post you have
written lately, you accuse LDS people of doing exactly what you and your
fellow street preachers are doing.
Protesters should stay at distance, LDS says
By Heather May
The Salt
Lake Tribune
LDS Church officials say they support the right of street
preachers to speak out against their religious beliefs. But they want more
safeguards -- including a buffer zone separating protesters and church members
-- during the church's general conferences in downtown Salt Lake City.
The next conference is in April. Church leaders say
they will advise the 100,000 faithful who are expected to attend the two-day
gathering at the Conference Center to ignore the protesters.
But church officials still fear there could be
confrontations like those at October's conference -- or worse. In the fall,
preachers demonstrated using LDS garments, which Mormons consider sacred. Two
church members were arrested afte! r trying to take the clothing from the
protesters.
In a December letter to City Hall --
obtained this week through a records request -- church attorney Von Keetch
offers four suggestions as the city revises its free-speech ordinance. He
cites numerous court cases from other cities or similar practices of other
government agencies during large-scale events as justification.
They include separating anti-church preachers from
their counter-protesters, keeping all demonstrators about 20 yards from
Conference Center entrances but within earshot and eyesight of
conferencegoers, further restricting noise levels and requiring permits for
all demonstrations.
The church did not ask the city to
stop protesters from demonstrating with LDS garments or from calling
conferencegoers "whores" or "harlots" -- actions that have occurred and could
be considered unconstitutional "fighting words" in certain contexts, according
to church! and city attorneys.
"It has become clear
that certain individuals are intent less on expressing a message than on
engaging in provocative conduct (such as the desecration of LDS temple
clothing) for the specific purpose of inciting an outraged and even violent
response from listeners," Keetch writes. "If the city fails to take
appropriate action to regulate this situation, unfortunate consequences seem
inevitable."
The church is concerned about tightly
packed sidewalks and the chance that protesters, conferencegoers or
counter-protesters could be moved to violence.
City Attorney Ed Rutan says
the church raises legitimate concerns, but the suggestions won't appear in the
proposed speech ordinance or in guidelines for police who patrol the sidewalks
during conference.
"They are concerns the city is
appropriately addressing or has the capability to appropriately address,"
Rutan says.
Lonnie Pursifull, , one of the street
preachers, says the church's suggestions cannot be applied to them because
they are exercising their religion, not speech. "We will not be put in a box.
The Mormon Church is trying to do everything in its power to stop us from
exposing them."
As for any violence, he blames
conference attendees and says he has been accosted by them. "We don't get
violent. We've never hit nobody. We've never assaulted nobody."
That is largely why the city hesitates to separate the
preachers from church! members. Instead, the city has implemented "no-standing
zones" in the high-traffic areas for conferencegoers. Demonstrators can be
there, but cannot interfere with pedestrian flow.
The
church memo cites cases in which buffer zones around abortion clinics -- to
keep demonstrators some distance from women using the clinic -- have been
upheld.
But Rutan says LDS conference is different.
"You do not have situations where the speakers themselves have physically
assaulted the listeners in the past, as you do in the abortion cases. . . . If
the speakers have been in full compliance with the law, then you're not really
in the position where you can justify any significant restrictions on the
exercise of their speech."
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LDS Church's suggestions
to regulate protests on public sidewalks near the Conf! erence Center in Salt
Lake City during the general conferences:
* Separate anti-church preachers and protesters from the
growing ranks of people who demonstrate against them.
*
Keep all demonstrators about 20 yards from the entrances and confined to a
certain area. "There are no appropriate sites for a demonstration zone on the
sidewalks in the vicinity of the main entrances to the Conference Center,"
says the church.
* Further restrict noise levels. The
church contends that one woman has suffered hearing loss from passing by
preachers or demonstrators.
* Require permits for all
protests and preclude spontaneous free-_expression_ activities during events
attracting large crowds. The city already requires permits for planned
demonstrations.
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