Court Asked to Enter Judgment in Favor of Tulsa Police Captain Paul Fields in Mosque Controversy

[Twana Blevins]

 

Yesterday, attorneys representing Tulsa Police Captain Paul Fields filed a motion in an Oklahoma Federal District Court for entry of a partial judgment in his favor on the issue of liability.  The Federal lawsuit involved the disciplinary action taken against Captain Fields after he refused orders to attend a Mosque event because it conflicted with his Christian faith and had nothing to do with any official police function.   He also told his superiors that he would not require any of his subordinates to follow the order if they shared similar religious convictions.

Before he disobeyed the order to attend the Mosque event, Captain Fields met with his superiors and explained to them why he felt it was an unlawful order which he could not in good conscience obey. 

Although dubbed “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” it had nothing to do with official police business.   It was a staged propaganda event to proselytize and use uniformed police officers as props.  The Mosque’s plan: photograph officers in the mosque eating and socializing with Muslim leaders for the media and their website.  All of this would establish the mosque’s credibility in the community despite its terrorist ties.

The event was scheduled for Friday, March 4, 2011— the “holy day” for Islam.   According to the mosque’s promotional flyer, the event was to include: a tour of the mosque, observing a “weekly prayer service,” lectures on Islamic “beliefs”, and meetings with the local Muslim leadership.

The mosque showed its true colors.  A week before the March 4^th event, it hosted a dinner and speech by Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  In 1992, Wahhaj told a Muslim audience in New Jersey.  “If only Muslims were more clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate.” 

In another sermon, Wahhaj said: “In time, this so-called democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing, and the only thing that will remain will be Islam.” 
On June 9, 2011, Captain Paul Fields, a 18-year police veteran with a sterling record, was stripped of his command, suspended without pay and prohibited from being promoted for one year—a career busting punishment.  His offense: He disobeyed the order to attend the Tulsa Mosque event.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, teamed up Captain Fields’ local Tulsa attorney to defend and advance his constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion.
 
Erin Mersino, trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) and one of the attorneys handling the case, commented:"This lawsuit is about a Christian who is standing up and saying he does not want to do something that violates his conscience.”

Police Major Julie Harris, Fields’ immediate superior, presented compelling sworn deposition testimony in his favor.  It is prominently mentioned in the motion for Partial Summary Judgment.  She testified:

• The Tulsa Police Department retaliated against Fields for exercising his constitutional rights.
• Fields had the right to object to the order to attend the Mosque because of his deeply held religious beliefs.
• Fields was punitively transferred for invoking his constitutional rights.
• There was no need for Fields to attend the Mosque if he had a religious conviction against doing so and there was no crime to investigate.
• Fields was the top performing shift commander in his division.
• Fields’ punishment was inconsistent with other similarly situated officers of his rank
• The allegations of the Internal Investigation of Fields could not be sustained. 

TMLC is heavily involved in litigation defending the religious freedom of Christians as well as countering the infiltration of radical Muslims in America.
 
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented: “The Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Department, of all places, has succumbed to the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence operations, their Civilization Jihad.   I seriously doubt that a police chief would ever have ordered a Muslim officer to attend a Christian prayer service.  And I’m positive that had the officer refused to attend, he would not have been punished.”