A Seattle street preacher says he was arrested for simply reading his Bible at a public park near a Seattle Gay Pride event.
Matthew Meinecke was surrounded by Seattle police officers and taken to the police station, where he was fingerprinted before being released.
“So at this point we can no longer stand by,” a police officer told Meinecke as he arrested him. “The risk that you pose for public safety by remaining here can be mitigated if you leave, it’s your last chance.”
“I don’t want to leave because I’m not in danger,” Meinecke responded.
SPD has enough resources to send 10 police officers to arrest a preacher reading his Bible in a public park. Because it's such a horrible crime now! pic.twitter.com/pytbNDel9I
— The Seattle Preacher (@mattteamjesus) June 27, 2022
One Seattle Pride event featured several men riding their bicycles naked as some children watched; during another event some men paraded around naked in front of children, according to footage posted of the event.
Meinecke posted a video of Bibles that he said had been seized from him and ripped as one person yelled at him, “Get the f*** out of here! Get your holy water off my ovaries, b****! Get the f*** out!”
One person yelled at Meinecke to “forget about your imaginary fairy in the f***ing sky.”
“I was at the Seattle Center, reading the Bible, not aggressively preaching, not stirring people up, not anything,” Meinecke said. “People throwing things. People vandalizing our property. I think about 10 police officers showed up.”
“Your job is not to silence me and move me,” the street preacher said of the police. “Why are they so offended by words? I just believe in using the word of God.”
Pointing to his heart, he continued, “So if those words are so offensive then the problem is here. The problem is in you.”
“Meanwhile we have a bunch of naked people walking around over here, not even 200 feet away,” he noted. “Naked grown men around little children.”
In a video, Meinecke stated, “We’ve got a city full of crime. We’ve got needles all over the place. Lawless homeless camps everywhere. We’ve got assaults. We’ve got broken glass. We’ve got Antifa running the place. But they’ve got time to send in ten police officers to arrest a street preacher reading his Bible in a park.”
#EXCLUSIVE: Earlier today, @SeaCityAttorney not filing obstruction charge against street evangelist @mattteamjesus. He was arrested twice last week for preaching during #RoeVsWade rally + #SeattlePride. Far left extremists ripped up his Bible and assaulted him. But they got away. pic.twitter.com/S4rFlHnKaH
— Jonathan Choe Journalist (@choeshow) June 29, 2022
“I love the police. I have no problem with the police at all,” Meinecke stated. “I mean, I’ve preached to the police, but it’s only salvation. It’s only the gospel. … I believe that police are fallible human beings just like anyone else and worthy of criticism like everybody else.”