A major religious liberty law firm is demanding action after city officials in Arizona allegedly threatened a local resident with arrest for peacefully sharing his Christian faith on public streets during a Christmas festival.
First Liberty Institute sent a formal letter to the City of Tucson accusing city officials and police of violating the Constitution by censoring religious speech at the annual Winterhaven Festival of Lights.
The letter was sent on behalf of Tucson resident David Hoffman, who visited the Winterhaven neighborhood on Dec. 13 to share his faith with festival attendees. Hoffman and his friends spoke with willing listeners and offered Christian literature — activities long protected under the First Amendment.
Instead of allowing the peaceful interaction, police officers reportedly told Hoffman that religious speech violated the festival’s solicitation policy, which explicitly banned religious expression within the event area. Officers warned that Hoffman and his group could be arrested unless they relocated to a barricaded area far from festivalgoers.
That zone — labeled “Designated Space for Peaceful Messaging and Literature Distribution” — was set up outside the festival footprint near Fort Lowell Road, physically separating religious speakers from the public.
“The City of Tucson is unlawfully suppressing Mr. Hoffman’s speech by removing his religious expression from public property and separating his speech from fellow attendees by placing a barricade between them,” said Nate Kellum, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute. “The city isolates religious speech for censorship. It’s unconstitutional.”
Kellum emphasized that religious speech is not a second-class right.
“Like any other kind of speech, religious speech is protected under the First Amendment,” he said.
In its letter, First Liberty attorneys reminded city officials that public streets are among the most protected forums under constitutional law, calling them the “prototypical example of a public forum.” The firm argued that Hoffman’s evangelism, including oral speech and literature distribution, is fully protected activity that cannot be singled out for exclusion simply because it is religious.
Conservatives say the incident reflects a broader pattern in left-leaning cities, where faith-based expression is increasingly treated as something to be hidden, fenced off or silenced — especially during public events that celebrate cultural or seasonal traditions rooted in Christianity.
First Liberty is demanding that Tucson immediately cease enforcement of policies that target religious speech and allow Hoffman and others to freely exercise their constitutional rights on public property.
If the city refuses, legal action may follow — adding Tucson to the growing list of municipalities facing lawsuits for hostility toward religious liberty.
