US man arrested for disorderly conduct after reciting Bible verses at Pride event

A Christian man was arrested in the US state of Pennsylvania during a 'Pride' event for reading excerpts from the Bible aloud. The man, identified as Damon Atkins, stood near the parade and started reading from 1 Corinthians 14:33, a verse that speaks of peace.

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints,” read the verse. However, justas Atkins was reading the phrase, he was arrested by the police officers stationed nearby.

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“I’m not being rude. I’m just here to spread the Gospel of good news! Jesus Christ saved me and he can save everyone, including you," Atkins could be heard speaking in one of the videos that went viral.

“God said go and sin no more" added Atkin, who was wearing a shirt that read- “You must be born again".

Meanwhile, one of the officers told him, "Let them have their day. Respect it."

"You know who's cheering for us? The people that are in hell. So, you do you, and I'm going to do me. This is public property," Atkins responded.

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Police statement on the arrest

According to the police complaint accessed by one of the local news outlets, Atkins was charged with“Disorderly Conduct Engage in Fighting". The statute involves intentionally causing significant public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof.

A police officer speaking to Newsweek confirmed the same, saying Atkins was not charged for reading the Bible verses.

"He was not arrested for reading a bible verse. He was arrested for being disorderly. His volume was at a level that he was heckling a preplanned and permitted event. He was given an area he was allowed to protest in and was asked to keep the volume at a level that was not problematic or that was inciting public inconvenience," said the officer.

However, netizens were not pleased by the action of the police with some saying it was a violation of the first amendment.

"This police officer and department should be sued for violating the 1st amendment. I hope he sues the police department. It would be great if we could file a class action lawsuit. As they violated all our voices," said one of the netizens.

(With inputs from agencies)

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