Police in Seattle arrested Pastor Mathew Meinecke for sharing the Gospel at two public events during the summer of 2022. This week, First Liberty, a Christian legal advocacy group, entered a consent order in his case against the City of Seattle. This legal decision resulted in a complete victory for the preacher, who is now able to share the gospel and carry his bible without fear of being detained.
The inciting incident was a pro-abortion rally. Meinecke attended the event to read aloud from scripture, pass out literature, and carry a sign. Violent protestors stole Meinecke’s Bible, tore pages out of it, and threw them on the ground while screaming obscenities. At the time, he stated “[This is a] Hate Crime, this needs to be investigated. I demand someone take action and press charges. My bibles were destroyed in hate for my Christian beliefs.”
Footage shows another protestor yelling “Get the [expletive] out of here. You understand me?” Another person screamed, “Get your holy water off my ovaries, [expletive]! Get the [expletive] out!” The pastor was arrested twice while preaching. Rev. Meinecke’s Gospel-oriented message triggered hostile reactions from the gathered activists.
The protestors launched as they stomped on the pastor’s bible. When he bent down to retrieve his tattered Bible, he told the attackers “If this was a Quran, you would not have done that.” The hecklers responded, “No because they wouldn’t be here doing this.” Someone else chimed in, “We actually would have.” Another assailant told the pastor to “forget about your imaginary fairy in the [expletive] sky.”
The crowd, which featured multiple Antifa members, was determined to create a scene. After they seized Meinecke’s Bible and ripped out pages, the hostile crowd knocked Meinecke down and stole one of his shoes. When the authorities finally arrived at the scene, they ordered Meinecke to leave. When he refused, police arrested the pastor. Nothing was ever done to the assailants.
After the conclusion of the legal proceedings, the pastor was awarded legal relief. This was in addition to monetary damages for the two false arrests. He was also paid for his legal fees. In April of last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Pastor Meinecke. They concluded that the city’s policy amounts to an unconstitutional heckler’s veto. The court remanded the case with instructions for the district court to enter a preliminary injunction for Meinecke.
They wrote, “The restrictions on his speech were content-based heckler’s vetoes, where officers curbed his speech once the audience’s hostile reaction manifested” and that “Meineke established irreparable harm because a loss of First Amendment freedoms constitutes an irreparable injury, and the balance of equities and public interest favors Meinecke.”
Nate Kellum, Senior Counsel at First Liberty, said This result is only fitting. The government should never silence the speech of a citizen just because an audience dislikes what it’s hearing.” He added, “Pastor Meinecke is thrilled to put this case behind him and get back to sharing the Gospel on the streets of Seattle.” First Liberty describes themselves as “The largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious liberty for all Americans. We believe that every American of any faith—or no faith at all—has a fundamental right to follow their conscience and live according to their beliefs.”