The Record on the Street

A father and his two sons, members of a religious movement, went door to door on a city street where about nine in ten residents belonged to a different faith. They carried books, pamphlets and a portable phonograph, and asked for contributions. A state law made it a crime to solicit money for a religious cause without a certificate from a state official, who decided whether the cause was genuinely religious. They had no certificate. One son stopped two men on the street, asked permission to play a record, and played one attacking the men's church. Both were angry and felt like striking him; he left when told to. The prosecution charged unlicensed solicitation and breach of the peace. The family argued they were simply spreading their faith, and that the licensing scheme violated their religious freedom.