A federal judge sided with the city of Dearborn today in a dispute with a Christian group over the distribution of religious literature during an upcoming Arab festival. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed this week by a Christian group who says the city of Dearborn is denying it the right to roam the Arab International Festival to hand out religious literature.

In previous years, the California-based ministry, Arabic Christian Perspective, and its pastor, George Saieg, attended the annual Arab International Festival in Dearborn to hand out literature about Christianity on sidewalks, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The group seeks to convert Muslims to Christianity, and the three-day festival, which will start Friday, attracts a significant number of Muslims.

This year, the Christian group says that the city has said that while it can hand out literature, it must stay in one area.