Christian Activists Win Victory in Arab Festival Case

In what's being hailed as a free-speech victory, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the First Amendment rights of a Christian group that was ordered to leave an Arab-American festival or face a fine.
     
In 2012, members of the "Bible Believers" displayed a pig's head and told Muslims they were going to hell at an annual street festival in Dearborn, Michigan.

Muslims responded by throwing rocks at the group and local deputies made little effort to stop the violence, instead ordering the group to leave or be ticketed.

In its ruling, the court said, "The answer to disagreeable speech is not violent retaliation by offended listeners or ratification of the heckler's veto through threat of arrest by the police."

A federal court will determine a financial award for the Christian activists.