In August 2014, New Jersey resident Luis Zapata found himself in the middle of a legal battle surrounding a poster he had fastened to his truck. Zapata stated that two years prior to the lawsuit, he felt led tovattach two signs to his truck, which displayed the words of John 8:24 as well as Numbers 32:23, hoping people would read the signs as he drove around his town. According to reports, a police officer approached Zapata and told him he had to remove the posters because he did not have a permit. The officer then left and returned with another officer. The pair proceeded to write Zapata a ticket, citing an ordinance requiring “temporary permits for advertising on vehicles” as the ticket’s justification. The prosecutor’s refusal to drop the case holds many implications for religious free speech in the United States. The ability to legally categorize posters containing Scripture verses as “advertisements” could potentially lead to greater restrictions on the rights of individuals as well as churches to express their faith in the public sphere.
