By Jim on
Church & Ministry
Reed v. Town of Gilbert
Supreme Court
Religious Liberty

Limits on Church Signs Ruled Unconstitutional

Supreme Court reaffirms broad prohibition on content-based speech restrictions, in today’s Reed v. Town of Gilbert decision

Background: Billboards and the Bill of Rights

“The greater Gilbert area is home to Good News Community Church, a small congregation that worships in various rented locations. Obviously it’s important for the church to get the word out about where meeting is each week. Beyond that, its members say, they must obey Jesus’s Great Commission, Matthew 28:16-20 (“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”). So the church has to put up signs near streets and roads announcing its services and welcoming newcomers.”

Discussion

Fri, 06/19/15

It strikes me that this ruling could be good or bad, depending on what course history takes. I’m glad that this restriction was reduced by the Supreme Court, but doesn’t our understanding of the end times indicate that there will be very rough times just prior to the Tribulation? As such, I would have to think that believers might want to get it through their heads that they need to figure out a way of meeting quietly and discreetly while still reaching their neighbors.

Don’t mean to be paranoid, but it seems that we might want to look to get our “first century persecuted church” vibe going, and this case could be a distraction.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Fri, 06/19/15

What is the origin of the Christian fish symbol?

Greeks, Romans, and many other pagans used the fish symbol before Christians. Hence the fish, unlike, say, the cross, attracted little suspicion, making it a perfect secret symbol for persecuted believers. When threatened by Romans in the first centuries after Christ, Christians used the fish mark meeting places and tombs, or to distinguish friends from foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew one arc of the simple fish outline in the dirt. If the stranger drew the other arc, both believers knew they were in good company

Some images (along with an anchor and chi-rho) Source.

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