Broken laws

Last updated on: April 11, 2007 at 9:51 pm by Fred Clark

Broken laws 2007-04-11T21:51:35-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

"Our job is to enforce the rules," said Orlando police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones, following the first arrest under the city's homeless-feeding law.

Sgt. Jones didn't elaborate, didn't attempt to defend "the rules" in this case. Probably wise on her part:

Eric Montanez, 21, is the first to be arrested under the city's controversial ordinance that bars feeding large groups of people in downtown parks without a special permit.

The rule was approved last summer after residents and businesses in Orlando's gentrifying downtown complained that parks were being used as soup kitchens. …

Homeless advocates and city officials have butted heads since the passage of the ordinance in July. The law bars groups from feeding more than 25 people without a special permit. Groups may have two permits per year. …

Activists skirted the rule by having several organizations host the weekly Lake Eola meals, and making sure no one group served more than 25 people.

Police kept close tabs, sometimes taking photos and ticketing volunteers' cars. …

Undercover officers filmed the food line, meticulously counting Montanez serving "30 unidentified persons food from a large pot utilizing a ladle," according to an arrest affidavit.

Police approached Montanez and asked for his identification. They considered issuing him a summons on the misdemeanor count, but when he tossed his ID, police took him into custody, the affidavit says.

Jonathan Giralt, 16, a Boone High School junior who was near Montanez, disagreed with the police account. He and other volunteers said the activist showed his ID and complied with police orders.

"I was like, OK, this guy [Montanez] is going to be arrested for absolutely nothing," Jonathan said. "It makes me feel unsafe."

Police also collected a vial of stew as evidence.

Let me repeat that last sentence:

Police also collected a vial of stew as evidence.

A vial of stew.

If you find yourself, as a police officer, surreptitiously filming the feeding of hungry people and collecting vials of stew as "evidence," then you're not likely to offer much more of a defense of your actions than "hey, we don't make the rules."

This is an absurd embarrassment for the City of Orlando. "Embarrassment" is the exact word that Rabbi Aaron D. Rubinger uses in response:

it was with great embarrassment that I read about individuals who were arrested for the "crime" of feeding the hungry — a.k.a. transients — in Lake Eola Park. Mind you, I have no support whatsoever for such groups as Food Not Bombs, CodePink and the Young Communist League. Still, as a member of the clergy, I am ashamed that my city would prohibit anyone from acting as his "brother's keeper," as our scriptures command of us. …

I would urge all people of faith, but especially my fellow clergy, to join together to help Orlando regain its moral bearings and not turn its back upon the Lord's needy. In my humble opinion, our community's civic leaders, well intentioned as they may be, would appear to be in need of spiritual guidance on this matter.

A public, peaceful gathering outside City Hall, led by the religious leadership of Orlando to dissuade our city from enforcing city ordinances that seek to forbid feeding the homeless, would be in keeping with the highest values of our religious traditions and the teachings of our prophets. Those who wish to be part of helping to plan such a religious convocation, I would welcome to contact me so that we may jointly, in a true ecumenical fashion, respond as, I believe, our God would expect from us.

I share Rabbi Rubinger's dislike for being forced to side with often-counterproductive groups like these, but in this case they're doing the right thing. This is a dumb law, and one way to oppose a dumb law is to make lawmakers look dumb by forcing them to enforce it. This is what civil disobedience means.

The idea of civil disobedience has suffered lately from misappropriation. It does not mean getting arrested as a way of getting attention.

This has been an ongoing point of contention for me with some of my former bosses in the so-called "evangelical left." Every couple of years or so they would participate in carefully orchestrated protests in the U.S. Capitol. You're not allowed to conduct public prayer services in the Capitol, so after explaining the subject of the protest — usually something commendable — the protesters would begin a prayer service, getting politely arrested before the cameras.

This may once have been an effective strategy for publicizing your cause (although I think that effectiveness has greatly diminished due to overuse), but it's not civil disobedience because the point of the protest has nothing to do with the law that is actually being broken. If you're opposed to the law forbidding prayer services in the Capitol, then conduct such a service, get arrested, and force officials to enforce the law you oppose. That would be civil disobedience — although in that case I doubt it would be very effective, since the law seems like a smart and just one and your punishment for violating it would be unlikely to be perceived as an injustice.

But Orlando's law forbidding the feeding of the homeless seems neither wise nor just, making it a prime candidate for civil disobedience. This was a case in which the rabble needed to be roused, and the rabble-rousers were up to the task. That alone might not be enough to change the law, so Rabbi Rubinger's called for "a public, peaceful gathering outside City Hall, led by the religious leadership of Orlando" seems like a smart, and necessary, next step.

Rubinger is also wise, and gracious, not to question the intention of the city officials who passed this law. It makes sense, after all, that they needed some kind of response to a situation in which large groups of hungry homeless people were regularly gathering in downtown parks. Simply attempting to outlaw such gatherings is foolishly beside the point, but the status quo — relying on scholarship-commies as a social safety net — isn't much of a solution either.

Here's hoping that Rubinger's delegation can come up with a plan that finds a better way to feed the hungry and that Orlando's finest will be allowed to get back to protecting and serving instead of skulking around stew pots and confiscating soup ladles as "evidence."

Until then, I'd suggest it's time for some of Orlando's Christian churches to begin celebrating the Lord's Supper in Lake Eola Park, preferably in groups of larger than 25.

class warfare

Previous Post

April 11, 2007

Blogger ethics panel

Next Post

April 13, 2007 Friday the 13th

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible contains the genealogy of Jesus?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Luke Mark John Matthew