City told: Stop prosecuting 'annoying' Christian

A federal judge has ordered a Louisiana city to stop enforcing an ordinance that banned a Christian man from warning bar patrons about the consequences of their actions, concluding the First Amendment trumps the local law.

"Zachary (La.) has no legitimate governmental interest in restricting speech that is too 'annoying' or 'offensive' to listeners," said U.S. District Judge James Brady, who issued a preliminary injunction preventing the city from continuing to enforce its restriction.

The case was brought by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of John Netherland, a man who had been targeted by authorities in the city of Zachary when he was warned he would be arrested if his verbal message in any way "annoys" someone else.

The ADF lawsuit sought a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the city's challenged ordinance while a trial on the case moves through the system. Brady agreed, finding that Netherland, when he loses First Amendment freedoms, "even for a minimal period of time … has suffered irreparable injury, and a court may grant injunctive relief."

Specifically, city officials "have not removed the threat of arrest against Mr. Netherland. They continue to violate his constitutional rights by prohibiting his religious message on the public easement near (the bar) and on other traditional public fora in Zachary. As long as Mr. Netherland is threatened with arrest, the harm suffered by him continues to grow," the judge said.

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The judge's ruling outlined the circumstances that generated the dispute: Netherland owns a tree-trimming service and lives near Zachary. "He is a professing Christian, who found his faith while battling alcoholism and drug addition. He desires to share his religious views with others, as part of his sincerely held religious beliefs. Mr. Netherland shares his faith with others by speaking in public areas, just as he did near Sidelines Grill … in the city of Zachary on the evening of Nov. 18, 2006."

Netherland went onto a public easement about 75-100 feet from the bar's entrance that evening and began to spread his message, quoting from the Bible, including statements such as, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, revelers, none of these shall inherit the Kingdom of God," the court said.

He did not use a megaphone or other amplification, but spoke loudly because of traffic on the nearby street, the court said.

Bar worker Ty Stevens then called police to complain Netherland was upsetting patrons.

Two police officers responded but found Netherland wasn't doing anything illegal. An hour later, Stevens called police again, and this time Lt. Troy Eubanks ordered Netherland first to the street edge of the easement, then told him he would be arrested if he continued to express his religious message.

The judge noted that the defendants admitted the crackdown was because of the "religious messages" from Netherland. One officer testified it was the "message" that was upsetting patrons of the drinking establishment.

But the judge said such censorship isn't allowed.

"Here, it is clear that Zachary has placed an undue burden on Mr. Netherland because he is prohibited from exercising his sincerely held religious beliefs. … The ordinance uses vague terms and there are less restrictive means to ensure public order."

He continued, "An enforcing officer must rely on his own subjective views of what constitutes 'annoying' or 'offensive' speech, or he must consider what he believes others might find 'annoying' or 'offensive.' The result of this reliance leads an officer … to act under the ordinance in a manner based on his or her own arbitrary judgment."

"Mr. Netherland's religious speech cannot be silenced because someone claims the Gospel message is 'annoying,'" said Joel Oster, ADF senior legal counsel. "We hope as this case moves forward that the constitutional right of Mr. Netherland and other Christians to share their religious faith in Zachary will be affirmed."

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