Rights restored to Michigan pastor
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 6/18/2010 8:55:00 AM
A federal appeals court has granted an emergency motion to allow a pastor to distribute Christian literature to Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan.

Pastor George Saeg immigrated to the United States from Sudan -- but according to senior attorney Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, he is being denied the very rights that caused him to emigrate.
"He came to the United States because he understands the beauty of the Christian faith and how important it is for Muslims to hear Jesus's Word and to hear the gospel," says Muise. "And so he took it upon himself to leave Sudan to come to the United States, particularly because we have the right to free exercise of religion and the freedom of speech -- and here he is in Dearborn, being told that he doesn't have those rights."
A federal judge issued an order keeping Saeg from distributing leaflets near the annual Arab Festival in Dearborn, which runs Friday thru Sunday. But the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the emergency order granting Saeg the right to proceed. Muise says the pastor has done so in the past in a peaceful fashion.
"He's never caused any disturbance to the public or any disturbance to the festival," says the attorney.
The emergency order will remain in effect pending outcome of the appeal.
Dearborn, Michigan, is one of the most densely populated Muslim communities in the U.S. An estimated 30,000 of its almost 100,000 residents are Muslims.