Mississippi Police Raid Church Drive-In Service, Issue $500 Tickets To Entire Congregation

Discussion in 'Law & Justice' started by kazenatsu, Apr 9, 2020.

  1. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Mississippi: Police Raid Church Drive-In Service, Issue $500 Tickets To Entire Congregation

    Pastor Arthur Scott told the Todd Starnes Radio Show that he was astonished by the actions of the police department and the mayor’s office.
    “One of the police officers said the mayor wanted to make an example of our church,” the pastor said. “I told them to get some more tickets ready because we will be preaching Sunday morning and Sunday night.”

    “We've been doing it for three weeks,” he said.

    But Mayor Errick Simmons and the city council that banned churches from hosting drive-in services.

    The City of Greenville put in place an Executive Order that orders all church buildings closed for in person and drive in church services, until the State of Mississippi’s Shelter In Place Executive Order No. 1466 is lifted by Governor Tate Reeves. Churches are strongly encouraged to hold services via Facebook Live, Zoom, Free Conference Call, and any and all other social media, streaming, and telephonic platforms,” the order read.

    Scott, who has pastored the small church for 45 years, said that most of the congregation is elderly and they don’t have access to smartphones.

    What happened?

    Church leaders decided to rig up a radio frequency where congregants could sit in their cars and listen as the pastor delivered the message from the pulpit. In other words, the church was in compliance with social distancing rules.

    “The police officer said I might go to jail,” the elderly pastor said on the radio show. “If it means going to jail and if it takes that for me to keep preaching, I’ll be glad to go to jail.”

    The pastor said as many as 25 cars were in the parking lot for the service and everyone was ticketed.

    These cops knocked on every window of the car during the service demanding people turn over their driver's licenses as though they were committing a crime.

    “I just can't believe it,” the pastor told me. “I tried to talk to the mayor. I’ve been here 45 years and I’ve never been to the city council. I’ve never complained. I’ve never stirred up a stink. But I told him I'm going to fight them on this.”​

    https://sonsoflibertymedia.com/miss...ice-issue-500-tickets-to-entire-congregation/


    This seems excessive. It was not like these people were gathered in a crowd. They were in a big parking lot, inside their cars, with plenty of space between the cars, listening to their radios.
    It's kind of asinine to imagine the quarantine order (concerning the Coronavirus pandemic) should have applied to them, in this situation.

    It's going to be real easy for a lot of people to say 'I don't really care about this'.

    But it is a big injustice. And take note because, while this exact type of thing may not happen to you, something else in the same sort of category could.

    The order to stay home was kind of vague, and even more so it was vaguely enforced. For a whole parking lot of $500 tickets, they should have at least given the people in those cars a specific warning. But they didn't.

    While Mississippi does have a tradition as a Bible Belt state, it also has a tradition of these sort of heavy-handed punitive tactics, big fines and bringing the full weight of the law down on situations that do not warrant it.

    Apparently many of the elderly people in that area do not have computers and internet to be able to listen to church broadcasts.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2020
    Zorro likes this.
  2. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Kentucky cops vow to record license plates, force 14-day quarantine on Easter churchgoers

    In another shocking development during the coronavirus crisis, Kentucky state police will record the license plates of anyone who attends church on Easter Sunday (the holiest day in Christianity) and report them to local health officials so they can be forcibly quarantined.

    Kentucky’s Democrat governor Andy Beshear made the stunning announcement at a press conference on Friday.

    “We’re having to take a new action,” Beshear said. “Any individual who’s going to participate in a mass gathering this weekend, we’re going to record license plates and provide it to local health departments.”

    Beshear continued: “Local health departments are going to come to your door with an order for you to be quarantined for 14 days.”

    Easter to enforce a local mayor’s coronavirus lockdown. Governor Beshear claimed that such a threat was not necessary against Muslims or Jews “because we don’t have any synagogues or mosques that are holding in-person services.”

    He said it’s critical that “we absolutely cannot bring people together in one building like that” during the coronavirus outbreak.
    (Despite the fact that no one is actually gathering in a building!)

    Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky slammed the move, tweeting: “Taking license plates at church? Quarantining someone for being Christian on Easter Sunday? Someone needs to take a step back here.”

    Senator Paul, a physician, recently recovered after testing positive for COVID-19.
    https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/0...4-day-quarantine-on-easter-churchgoers-907436

    It looks like this governor's bent against Christianity is showing through.
     
  3. Zorro

    Zorro Well-Known Member

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    THE GREAT REOPENING: Trump declares churches “essential,” says must be allowed to open “right now” or he will override governors.

    [​IMG]
    "Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential, but have left out churches and other houses of worship. It's not right," Trump said from the White House podium.

    "The governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now. For this weekend. If they don't do it, I will override the governors."
     
  4. MJ Davies

    MJ Davies Well-Known Member

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    Two things came to mind as I read your posts.

    1. People are scared about this virus. It's not like anything we've ever experienced and it's natural to turn to one's faith during difficult times.
    2. Some people MAY have thought Easter service was okay because Trump mentioned he wanted the nation opened up by Easter.
     

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