A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit involving a preacher booted from a rural Georgia jail after dozens of inmates wanted to avail themselves of his full-immersion baptisms in a horse trough.

The case raised issues including the preacher’s right to free speech, inmates’ religious liberty and a jailer’s admonition that baptisms were “not required for their salvation.” 

Judge Michael Brown, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. (Courtesy photo) Judge Michael Brown, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. (Courtesy photo)