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Preacher arrested for quoting Bible at PA Pride event but vulgarity reigns in DC; White House defaces flag

June 11, 2023 | | Print Article

You can tell a lot about a country from what it does and does not permit, and as June drags (pun intended) on, Pride Month is painting a disturbing picture of what is and isn’t allowed in the U.S.A.

At a recent Pride event in Pennsylvania, a Christian street preacher by the name of Damon Atkins was seen in Reading holding a sign that read, “Jesus said go and sin no more.”

As the parade marched by, Atkins quoted verses from the Bible.

He was quickly confronted by police, and despite being on public land, Atkins was pushed up against a wall, handcuffed, and hauled off.

“I just felt like, I thought of the First Amendment,” Atkins told CBN News. “It popped in my head, like, ‘No sir, this is public property. I’m not being rude. I’m just here to spread the gospel.'”


(Video: YouTube)

Upon his arrest, the festival crowd cheered.

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“It felt like I was punched in the stomach when I heard them,” Atkins said. “And that’s when I said, ‘God is not the author [of Confusion].'”

“The sign says, ‘Jesus says go and sin no more,'” he explained. “I’m not mad or aggressive with anyone across the street. I am aggressive towards sin, and that is it. I want everyone to know, including my brothers and sisters, my best friends, everyone here: You cannot live in willful sin.”

According to Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli, Atkins was arrested because he was being disorderly, not for his message.

“Our officers gave him warnings to cease that behavior as it was disrupting the event that was taking place,” Tornielli told WFMZ.

Ultimately, the charges were dropped.

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“After review of the video of the incident, including body-worn cameras, and a review of the case law, we did not believe we could prove a criminal case of disorderly conduct,” the Berks County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

“The thing that scares me is that they think I’m hating them,” Atkins told CBN. “And I’m worried for them.”

“I heard a preacher tell me before, ‘The truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth,'” he added.

Meanwhile, you only need to look at our nation’s capital to see what is being permitted on America’s streets without fear of a “disorderly conduct” arrest.

“This is what kids in Washington D.C. saw today at ‘pride,'” tweeted Robby Starbuck on Saturday. “This is sexual abuse and the left has been cheering it on.”

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“Look at this sick mom smiling as her kid is forced to watch @QweenAmor spread their legs,” he continued. “Clearly the pride flag matters more to @DCPoliceDept than child safety.”

“Notice how often the evil people doing this to kids have sacrilegious themes that focus on satan or attacking Christianity,” Starbuck said in a follow-up tweet.

Frontlines reporter Kalen D’Almeida was chased down the D.C. Pride parade route by a suspected, half-naked “biological male.”

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“An individual who I suspect to be a biological male chases me down the parade route with it’s [sic] breasts completely exposed,” he tweeted. “Is this what women do?”

“Tons of children present btw,” D’Almeida adds.

And there was this display:

The message of permissiveness came straight (pun intended) from the White House.

Much to the horror of a host of Americans, a Pride flag was flown from the White House, with America flags flanking it.

“Today, the People’s House – your house – sends a clear message to the country and to the world,” President Biden tweeted. “America is a nation of pride.”

“This is a disgrace,” declared one angry Twitter user. “The US flag DOES NOT FLANK *ANY* FLAG. Especially not on OUR White House.”

According to the U.S. Flag Code, which Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton referenced below: “The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.”

“When flags of States, cities, or localities, or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the flag of the United States, the latter should always be at the peak,” the code directs. “When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the United States flag’s right.”

“No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing,” the code states. “Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.”

 

 

Melissa Fine
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