ISEMA Newsletters
Berkeley Legal Update
by Larry Rosenbaum
After preaching the gospel in San Francisco for twelve years, I thought I was prepared for anything. But I was not prepared for the hostility I would find in Berkeley. Although Berkeley is known as the home of the “Free Speech Movement,” we soon found that this “free speech” is intended only for left-wing, radical causes, not for the preaching of the gospel.
In 1987, we began a regular outreach on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. For several years, we witnessed there almost every Wednesday afternoon, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon. People would tear up our microphones, destroy our amplifier, throw various things at us including flower pots and foul-smelling liquids, and yell right in our ears for hours. We were chased from one corner to another by angry street vendors claiming we were hurting their business. From 1987-1989, we went through extremely hard times. Everyone in our house dreaded going to Berkeley, and many left because of the warfare. Christians would go out on the streets with us one time, see the warfare, and never return.
Even though we got a permit from the city to preach, the police would say our permits weren’t valid and threaten to arrest us. Then they started writing citations and confiscating our amplifier. On two occasions I was taken to jail. The first time I was charged with “disturbing the peace.” A Christian lawyer, Julia Spain, defended us and got a judge to dismiss the charges on constitutional grounds. The second time four of us were arrested on the same charge. But this time they changed the charge to “battery against a police officer,” claiming that I and a Christian woman had pushed an officer. All I had done was to tape record my conversation with a police officer who was saying we had no right to preach. They arrested us, confiscated the tape recorder and erased the tape.
The situation was getting very serious. Even though we had several witnesses, a jury might believe the police officers and convict us of this charge. Once convicted, the police could effectively keep us off the streets by the threat of arresting us again on the same charge. But the officers made one crucial mistake. When they erased my tape recording in the Berkeley jail, they recorded over it with a conversation between several police officers and returned the tape to me, thinking the tape was blank. On the tape, one officer, a Mormon, told one of us: “I’m going to give you all the Book of Mormon so you’ll learn how to preach the gospel in a civilized way.” He later admitted intentionally recording over the tape. “I just don’t want something that I say to someone in this situation out of my control and I’m destroying his tape.”
Our lawyer was able to make a deal with the D.A. to dismiss the charges if we did not get arrested for the next year. She also filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Berkeley and the University of California for violating our civil rights. Proceeding with a lawsuit against the government is a long and expensive matter. The ministry in which I was saved (Shiloh Youth Revival Centers) was forced into bankruptcy after spending $200,000 to defend itself against the IRS. A Christian anti-cult ministry spent over $300,000 to defend itself against a lawsuit, but was forced into bankruptcy when it ran out of money. And we were filing a lawsuit against two government agencies which had unlimited budgets. We had no money and a Christian lawyer defending us at her own expense. It was truly a “David and Goliath” situation. I remember going to a deposition at the offices of the law firm representing the University located in the fanciest suite I had ever seen. They had about six high-priced lawyers plus several law clerks on their side while I had one lawyer.
Halfway through the process, Julia Spain decided to leave law practice. Amazingly, her law partner Jack Leonard, not an evangelical Christian, agreed to continue the lawsuit. He spent about 20 full days in depositions and thousands of dollars in legal fees. Eventually, they realized that we weren’t giving up and agreed to settle the case. At the settlement hearing, the Berkeley city attorney told me that this was the first time they had ever agreed to change their policy in response to a lawsuit. We reached a settlement on March 24, 1992. The Berkeley Police Department changed their official policy regarding the handling of street preachers in a way that was fairer to us. The City of Berkeley acknowledged our “right to conduct a public ministry” and committed to “make every effort to avoid future unnecessary confrontations.” And both the City of Berkeley and the University paid us to settle the case.
Once that lawsuit was filed in August of 1989, we noticed a dramatic change in the behavior of the police. They became very nice. Never again were we even threatened with arrest. They rarely even asked to see our permit. The arrests and the lawsuit became front page news in the Daily Californian, the student paper. Many people were sympathetic to the problems we were facing. And as the police stopped harassing us, the opposition on the street decreased dramatically. Street vendors who had vowed to get us off the street were silent. And most of the hecklers started leaving us alone.
We now witness in Berkeley once or twice a month on Saturday afternoon. At our most recent outreach on May 16, about 15 people from the Set Free Church in Berkeley joined us on the streets. We sang, gave out tracts, and talked to many people who were receptive to the gospel. They have seen a number of people from the streets come to church and some have gotten saved. Today, we have tremendous freedom to preach the gospel in a peaceful atmosphere. No longer do we dread going to Berkeley. At the least, the legal battle has given us three years of freedom to preach the gospel in Berkeley.
I would like to give this story a happy ending. However, on Easter Sunday–right after our case was settled–a Christian was arrested on Telegraph Ave. for “disturbing the peace” while preaching without an amplifier. He spent several hours in jail, but the District Attorney decided not to file charges. And on May 19 the Berkeley city council approved a new loud-speaker permit fee. The permits had previously been free, but now we must pay $68 for each permit plus $68 per hour if needed to enforce the ordinance. Paying $68 or more for permission to preach on the streets for a few hours is certainly not free speech, and I think such a fee would be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.
At this point we have a few options–taking the matter to court, paying the fee, or preaching without a permit and risking arrest. Berkeley’s noise ordinance does not require a permit for amplification. But the Berkeley police do not recognize this and would probably arrest us. We would win the case in court, but would have to go through a long ordeal and would have our amplifier confiscated for several months. Winning a lawsuit does not guarantee an end to persecution. “And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). Please pray that God will give us wisdom to know how to proceed.
Ilana Wherry, a sister who attends my church, works for the Berkeley Tri-City Post and received a press release about the lawsuit to be printed in this paper. She interviewed me on the issue and the article ended up as the lead article on the front page on July 1. Here is an excerpt from the article:
End of Amplified Free Speech on Berkeley Streets
As of July 1…the city will no longer be issuing noise permits to operate sound amplifiers, free of charge. From that date a fee of $68 per permit will be charged. What has this to do with the fundamental First Amendment right of “free speech”? Plenty, according to Larry Rosenbaum, leader of Bay Area Outreach Ministries….
Rosenbaum and Bay Area Outreach Ministries have been preaching on the streets of Berkeley since 1987. From that time to the date their lawsuit was filed (August 19, 1989), there had been almost constant harassment from hecklers (see photo), street vendors and police.
Rosenbaum says, “I was put in prison twice, and several of us were cited and arrested. After a number of such situations, we filed a lawsuit against harassment. All the cases were thrown out of court by the judges, and it was established in court that we had been wrongfully arrested. A not guilty verdict was returned on each occasion of arrest. Eventually the suit was settled, with an unspecified amount of money being paid by U. C. Berkeley and the City of Berkeley.”
“Since that time we have had no further trouble with the police and the community of Berkeley. People have been very kind and the police have been cooperative and helpful. We’re concerned (about the $68 fee being charged for the new noise ordinance permits). Berkeley has a reputation for being a center of free speech; speech is no longer so free in Berkeley. People who want to speak their minds on Berkeley streets can no longer do so. This (ordinance) will affect anybody who needs to use an amplifier, such as protest groups, rallies or street musicians. There is also a questionable constitutionality of such a fee. It may price people out of the market for free speech,” Rosenbaum said.
“This will virtually eliminate spontaneous protests and rallies (a 30 day notice is required) that use amplification. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that “amplifiers are an indispensable item of modern public speech,” (Saia vs. New York 1948) Rosenbaum concluded….
Those concerned about these issues, and/or interested in repealing this ordinance, may send written concerns and/or petitions to the City of Berkeley c/o: L. Rosenbaum…All of which, according to Rosenbaum, will be forwarded to the City Attorney’s Office.
Coming Events
- August 1 San Francisco Worship Rally and Outreach with Reachout Ministries. 3-6 PM. Powell St. BART Station. Contact SOS Ministries, Box 27358, Oakland, CA 94602, (510) 531-5325. .
August 15-19 Republican National Convention Outreach. Houston, TX. $150. Contact No Greater Love Box 263, DuQuoin, IL 62832, (618) 542-4503.
August 30-31 Notting Hill Gate Carnival, London, England. Europe’s largest street festival, London’s version of the Mardi Gras. Contact Gary Lukas, 67 Melfort Rd., Thornton Heath, Surrey, CR7 7RT, England. 011-44-81-684-1603.
September 5-7 Lakeport, CA and Lake County Fair Outreach. Contact SOS Ministries (address above).
September 24-26 National Street Ministries Conference, Dallas, TX. David Wilkerson will be speaking Friday morning, Saturday morning and Saturday night. Contact NSMC, Box 380306, Duncanville, TX 75138, (214) 283-3900.
A Final Word
As our nation has turned away from God, we have seen our freedoms eroding away. Today, the former Soviet Union nations are asking Christians to teach the Bible in their public schools while in the U.S. a public school teacher cannot have a Bible in his class library containing over 200 books. Certainly, God’s judgment is already coming to our nation. We must preach the gospel while we can. The night is coming when no one can work.
Meanwhile, most Christians have little interest in evangelism and those who are faithfully preaching the gospel on our streets often struggle with discouragement. We need to encourage one another to persevere in God’s work, even more as we see the time of His return approaching. Please pray for ISEMA that we can full God’s calling to encourage and help those who are on the front lines. We don’t like to talk about our financial needs, but the past few months our income has dropped significantly. Please help us fulfill God’s calling as a network of evangelism ministries. Also please continue to send us evangelism reports from your community. We recently completed our 13th annual SOS-San Francisco outreach. This month, we want to make available to you the teaching tapes from this outreach.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
