The Detroit News
May 28, 2010
By Mark Hicks
“Americans have a right to know the truth — Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, the Ann Arbor public interest law firm that filed the lawsuit with the Law Offices of David Yerushalmi P.C. Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
“Christians, Jews and other non-Muslim minorities are persecuted in every country where Islam dominates,” Thompson said in a news release.
The suit was filed on behalf of the Freedom Defense Initiative, which sponsored the ad and had sought to display it on Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation buses.
The Freedom Defense Initiative’s website says its objective is “to go on the offensive when legal, academic, legislative, cultural, sociological and political actions are taken to dismantle our basic freedoms and values.”
According to the lawsuit, SMART this week refused to display the group’s bus ad, which read: “Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!”
The lawsuit alleges the transportation authority violated First and 14th Amendment rights dealing with free speech and equal protection.
Attorneys also said SMART previously displayed an ad from the Detroit Area Coalition of Reason, an atheist group, which read: “Don’t Believe in God? You are not alone.”
“In Detroit, government officials grant atheists the right to express a view that God does not exist, not worrying about offending Christians,” said Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center. “Yet, these same politically correct officials censor speech that might offend Muslims. Such blatant discrimination is offensive, and it violates our Constitution.”
Elizabeth Dryden, a SMART spokeswoman, said it would be “inappropriate to comment” until company officials speak with the bus agency’s attorney.
Copyright 2010 The Detroit News