Courts Main Street Church characterizes Brigham City as Orwellian in restricting free speech.<\/p>\n
A federal judge will decide Friday whether to grant a Christian churchs request for a temporary restraining order so it can pass out fliers on sidewalks in front of a new Mormon temple in Brigham City. <\/p>\n
The Main Street Church of Brigham City and ACLU of Utah filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday seeking the order on a city ordinance they characterized as \"Orwellian\" in restricting free speech and other constitutional rights. The hearing is set for 10 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball. <\/p>\n
In its lawsuit, the church said the ordinance turns the \"entire city into a place where free speech, free assembly and free exercise of religion are prohibited until people are granted a special permit designating free speech zones.\" The church received a permit from the city on Aug. 21 that limits its activity to two lightly trafficked sidewalks and allows only four people to participate in handing out literature at a time. <\/p>\n
The church, which believes Mormonism is based on erroneous teachings, requested the permit to hand out \"Biblically-based information about temples and related Christian temples\" during an open house for the new temple, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The open house ends Saturday, but Main Street Church wants to hand out its leaflets through Oct. 1. <\/p>\n
City Administrator Bruce Leonard told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday that the city adopted the ordinance to deal with pedestrian and vehicle safety at any event in the city. <\/p>\n
\"We felt wed done a good job in allowing any protest,\" Leonard said. \"They had good access to the temple. We felt they had ample area and ample time to talk to people.\" <\/p>\n
Leonard said the city has had a good relationship with Main Street Church, which is located next door to city hall, in the past. But safety was a concern during the temple open house, he said, which also led the city to reroute traffic on its main street to divert large trucks. <\/p>\n
brooke@sltrib.com<\/a> <\/p>\n Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Originally posted here: Courts Main Street Church characterizes Brigham City as Orwellian in restricting free speech. A federal judge will decide Friday whether to grant a Christian churchs request for a temporary restraining order so it can pass out fliers on sidewalks in front of a new Mormon temple in Brigham City Continue reading
\nHearing set for Friday in free speech case involving Mormon temple<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"