Montana Law Disdains the First Amendment
- Aug 4, 2008
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – Today, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in a case that could further destroy the First Amendment’s protection of speech for pastors.
In 2004, the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices investigated the Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church after a homosexual activist group filed a complaint. The group claimed the church violated Montana law because it supported a proposed state marriage amendment without registering as a political committee. The commissioner agreed with the complaint and the church then decided to stand up for its rights and filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the law.
In 2006, a federal court ruled against the church and the church then appealed.
“We see a constant assault on pastor’s First Amendment rights,” Pastor Rick Scarborough, president and founder of Vision America, said. “This pastor has the Constitutional right to declare biblical truth to his congregation and the state of Montana has decided to violate freedom of speech and freedom of religion in an attempt to control biblical doctrine.”
“Since before the foundation of this nation, pastors in America have been the moral conscience of the people, calling citizens to repentance and to action,” Scarborough said. “We need our nation’s pulpits to exercise their Constitutional freedoms and declare truth whenever it is needed. Pastors should not be afraid of the government monitoring their sermons and telling them what they can or cannot preach.”
“This is not Nazi Germany or the former Soviet Union.”
Pastor Scarborough is currently working across the U.S. organizing pastors and registering Christians to vote. He has been interviewed by Fox News, CBS Evening News, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and numerous radio and newspaper outlets nationwide and internationally. He has also been profiled on CNN and HBO.
He is available for interviews via phone or satellite. He is based near Houston, Texas.
To book Pastor Scarborough for an interview, contact Catherine Rouse at 936-560-3900.
For more information on Vision America visit www.visionamerica.us.
