City officials in Tucson, Arizona, are facing allegations that they intimidated a local resident and his friends with arrest after they attempted to share Christian beliefs during a popular holiday event.
The legal advocacy group First Liberty Institute sent a formal demand letter last week to City of Tucson, asserting that municipal authorities unlawfully restricted the religious expression of resident David Hoffman during the annual Winterhaven Festival of Lights.
In the correspondence, First Liberty warned that it would consider legal action if city officials failed to respond by Friday.
“The City of Tucson is unlawfully suppressing Mr. Hoffman’s speech by removing his religious expression from public property and separating his speech from fellow attendees by placing a barricade between them,” said Nate Kellum, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, in a statement provided to The Christian Post.
“The city isolates religious speech for censorship. It’s unconstitutional. Like any other kind of speech, religious speech is protected under the First Amendment,” Kellum added.
According to the letter, Hoffman and several friends attended the Winterhaven Festival on Dec. 13, the opening night of the event, which runs through Dec. 27 and is open to the public without charge. The group said they simply wished to walk through the neighborhood and share their Christian faith with other festivalgoers.
First Liberty stated that Hoffman’s group was neither selling merchandise nor soliciting donations and did not block sidewalks or interfere with pedestrian traffic.
“Yet, after conducting this religious activity for a short while, City police officers approached Hoffman’s group and warned them to halt their expression, citing the festival’s solicitation policy as basis,” the letter said. “This solicitation policy, enforced by the City, prohibits all 'political, religious, or commercial materials or messaging.’”
Officers allegedly told the group that any religious expression had to take place outside the festival’s boundaries in a designated area labeled “Designated Space for Peaceful Messaging and Literature Distribution.”
The letter further claims that police warned Hoffman he could face arrest and a trespassing citation if he refused to relocate.
“Fearing arrest, Hoffman and his group forsook their speech inside the festival. But they wish to resume sharing their faith for the remainder of this year’s festival, and all future Winterhaven Festivals,” First Liberty wrote. “Through counsel and this letter, they hope to resolve this conflict without resorting to litigation.”
First Liberty asked the city to provide written confirmation that it will not continue what it described as the practice of forcing religious expression into restricted speech zones on public property during the Winterhaven Festival or similar events in the future.
