Our First Amendment Rights
On this page, you will find resources to help you understand your Constitutional Rights as an open air preacher/street evangelist, as well as help you stand up for your rights. Too many times today, open air preachers have encounters with unlawful cops. We need to stand up for our rights while we still have them!
Attention, if you are having problems with your 1st Amendment Rights being infringed upon in your area, please contact the Alliance Defense Fund. They may be able to help you out. They are our lawyers when it comes to defending our 1st Amendment Rights.
Articles
Open Air Preaching Rights- It is always good to know what your legal rights are before you go out and Open Air preach. You may even want to carry a copy of your rights on you. Even some well-meaning police officers don't know what the Law says about this issue.
Should I Get Arrested?- This is from the Alliance Defense Fund - What does a 1st Amendment Lawyer think about open air preachers getting arrested?
Dealing With Police- This artilce has some good, practical tips when it comes to dealing with the police. This is inevitable with the open air preacher, so it is a MUST READ.
Supreme Court Rulings- A list of rulings from the Supreme Court of the U.S. on street preaching and public speech in general.
Audios
In the audio files below, Kerrigan Skelly is speaking to a group of Evangelists about their First Amendment Rights before they hit the streets. The city they are about to go out and evangelize in has had lots of problems concerning First Amendment Rights lately (at the time he is speaking).
Part 1 Part 2
Videos
Below, you can watch some videos of Kerrigan Skelly in some of their encounters with the police and other authorities.
Unlawfully Arrested Lady Gaga Concert- Video of the arrest of Kerrigan Skelly of PinPoint Evangelism http://www.pinpointevangelism.com as he preached out in front of a Lady Gaga concert at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA.
Western Connecticut State University- After less than 15 minutes of preaching a campus policeman (Lieutenant Richard Montefusco) threatens to arrest Kerrigan for "offending people" if he doesn't leave the campus. This video shows a classic example of the ignorance of police officers regarding 1st Amendment Rights and the nonsense that "offending someone" is against the law!
Falsely Arrested at Lady Gaga Concert- Video footage of Kerrigan Skelly of PinPoint Evangelism http://www.pinpointevangelism.com being FALSELY ARRESTED while preaching outside of a Lady Gaga Concert at the YUM Center in Louisville, KY.
Arrested In Front of "Prosperity Gospel" Church- Kerrigan Skelly and four others were concerned for the people who are deceived by word-faith and prosperity Gospel preachers. So, they decided to reach out to them. They ended up getting unlawfully arrested.
Unlawfully Kicked Off of Public College Campus- Kerrigan Skelly preaching at Palm Beach State in Lake Worth, FL. They were unlawfully kicked off of this public campus and were then given unlawful policies to come back on and threatened with arrest. Then they went and preached at a local high school after classes had ended for the day.
Wake County Technical Community College- Kerrigan Skelly did all that was asked of him and required of him by the college. In the end, he was kicked off of the campus for an unlawful reason. Watch the whole situation from beginning to end as he deals with violent students, irrational and emotional admin and security and ignorant cops. Kerrigan eventually won this battle in court with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund. Wake Tech paid ADF $15,000 in lawyer's fees, paid Kerrigan $1 (proves I'm not "in this for the money") and changed their policies significantly.
Kentucky State University- Kerrigan Skelly is seen here, dealing with the security and admin on Kentucky State University. They wanted him to go preach where there were no people to preach to. Kerrigan Skelly refused to do so.
Preacher Mugged by Security and Off-Duty Police!- Kerrigan Skelly is physically harassed by the security of Brimstone Arena in Nashville, TN, as well as by off-duty police, who are working for Brimstone Arena. A discussion ensues, with Brimstone Arena officials, as well as on-duty police offices. They are told that they can't use amplification and that they can't use their cameras. They call their bluff again and do all of those things, anyway. Watch the video to find out what happens.