By Larry Rosenbaum
San Francisco is an ideal city for street witnessing. Any time, day or night, you can find people on the streets to witness to. It never gets very cold here and the rain usually doesn’t last too long. However, you may live in a small town where the streets are dead after 6 PM. Winters may be horribly cold. Where can you go to witness? Chances are, there is a shopping center somewhere near you. The problem is that shopping centers have security guards and usually have “no soliciting” rules. How do you get around this?
First, nobody can prevent you from talking with people about Christ, as long as you don`t force people to talk with you. If a security guard complains, ask him two questions: 1) Are all conversations about religion prohibited in this shopping center? and 2) Are all conversations with strangers prohibited? The First Amendment to the Constitution clearly prevents any such restriction. If he says that the shopping center prohibits soliciting or loitering, explain to him that soliciting means asking for money and loitering means being somewhere with no good purpose. So these do not apply to you.
A shopping center can prevent you from distributing literature, but not from giving out a tract to someone you are talking with. And you can give out literature until an official asks you to stop. By the way, the same is true of stores, restaurants, buses, or any place that is open to the public. You can give out literature until some official tells you to stop.
Second, you can use entertainment as a means to witness. Sometimes shopping centers allow music, drama, clowns, or other entertainment. Perhaps you can get permission from the management to perform. At Christmas and Easter times, religious music is particularly welcome, and often you can share the gospel openly.
Third, you can go to the management and ask permission to set up a table and give out literature about Christ. If they object, inform them of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Pruneyard Shopping Center vs. Michael Robins, 64 L ED 2d 741, l00 S Ct 2035, decided June 9, l980. In this case, some students seeking support for a political position set up a table in a shopping center in California and began distributing pamphlets and asking passers‑by to sign a petition. A security guard told them they could not do this. The California Supreme Court ruled that the California Constitution gave these students the rights they were exercising, and that they did not infringe on the property rights of the shopping center owners. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.
This means that a shopping center owner in California cannot deny you the right to give out literature or set up a table in their shopping center. In other states, it may be necessary to take the matter to court, but it is likely that the result would be the same. The rights given to citizens under the California Constitution are essentially the same as those in other state constitutions, and in the U.S. Constitution as well.
If you go to the management of a shopping center with a copy of this Supreme Court decision (we`ll send you one free on request), he may allow you to set up a table and give out literature in his shopping center. If not, you may want to contact a Christian lawyer. The Christian Legal Society, P O Box 2069, Oak Park, IL 60303, can help you find one. Often a letter from a lawyer will be sufficient. Remember that the management does not want the adverse publicity and expense that will come from a lawsuit, especially one they will probably lose.
If the management won’t back down, you need to decide whether to go to court. If that shopping center is the best place to witness in your area, it may be wise to go to court. Also, a favorable court decision will help Christians in other places who want to witness in shopping centers. But you need to count the cost. Legal action can take a lot of time, energy, and money. Even if you get free legal help, it’s costing the lawyer his time. Nonetheless, there are times when we must fight for our rights, or we will lose them. The apostle Paul took advantage of his rights as a Roman citizen, and several times rebuked officials who acted illegally. One thing that we need to remember is that the shopping center administrator is not our enemy. We must relate to him with kindness and respect, showing him Christ’s love.
