Michigan Jury Acquits Four Christians of Inciting Crowd During Islam Festival, Dearborn Mayor Calls Them “Anti-Muslim Bigots” Anyway

From Weasel Zippers:

A jury acquitted on Friday four Christian missionaries who were accused of inciting a crowd while videotaping themselves proselytizing to Muslims at the Dearborn Arab International Festival in June.

Nabeel Qureshi of Virginia, Negeen Mayel of California and Paul Rezkalla and David Wood, both of New York, were acquitted of breach of peace, 19th District Court officials in Dearborn said after the verdict. Mayel was found guilty of failure to obey a police officer’s order.

The four are members of a Christian group called Acts 17 Apologetics, who, according to the group’s Web site, “refute the arguments of those who oppose the true gospel, most commonly the arguments of Muslims and atheists.” They maintain that Islam is a false religion and inherently violent.

They were charged in July with disorderly conduct after police said they received a complaint from a Christian volunteer working at the festival who said he was harassed by the group.

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr. said Friday night that he respects the decision, but the missionaries were anti-Muslim bigots pulling a publicity stunt to gain attention on YouTube in order to raise money.