An Arizona evangelist says police threatened to arrest him for sharing the gospel at a holiday festival on public streets, even telling him that a conversation about salvation would have to happen outside the event.
Now David Hoffman is challenging Tucson in federal court over restrictions that allegedly turned talking about Jesus into grounds for removal.
Hoffman had attended the Winterhaven Festival of Lights for nearly a decade. But at the December 2025 event, he said, officers delivered a stark warning.
“Upon entering the event, we were told that we can’t have any kind of religious expression,” Hoffman told Fox News Digital.
According to a lawsuit filed on his behalf by First Liberty Institute, an event policy prohibited “religious, political, or issue-based leafleting.” Signs warned that violations could result in removal and criminal trespassing charges.
When Hoffman asked whether his volume was the problem, an officer said it was “the sending of your message,” according to the complaint, Fox News reported.
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An officer also told him that asking someone whether they wanted to discuss Jesus amounted to “sermonizing,” the complaint alleges.
First Liberty legal counsel Garrett Bell told Fox News Digital that Hoffman asked officers whether he could respond if someone approached him asking how to be saved.
“And the officers told him, ‘No, if you want to have that conversation with them, you’re going to have to step outside the perimeter of the event,’” Bell said.
Four uniformed officers ultimately escorted Hoffman out under threat of arrest, according to the lawsuit. He was directed to a barricaded “free expression zone” beside a busy street, where First Liberty says conversations with festival visitors were impractical.
Meanwhile, the organization says, vendors, performers and party bikes playing amplified music were permitted throughout the festival.
The lawsuit alleges violations of free speech, religious exercise and due process protections, along with the Arizona Constitution. Hoffman seeks a court order allowing him to share the gospel at this year’s festival and a declaration that the policy is unconstitutional.
Tucson told Fox News it does not comment on pending litigation.
First Liberty senior counsel Nate Kellum sharply condemned the restrictions in a statement quoted by Fox News.
“Censoring a Christian message during a public Christmas event is malicious, unconstitutional, and absurd,” Kellum said.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
