Article by Tyler O' Neil in "PJMedia":
Police in Greenville, Miss.,
issued $500 tickets to Christians who gathered in a church parking lot
to worship together in the safety of their cars on Wednesday. The
Christians at Temple Baptist Church intended to honor coronavirus social
distancing restrictions while gathering to worship God, but the police
cracked down, regardless.
Charles E. Hamilton Jr., pastor of King James Bible Baptist Church, raised the alarm on Facebook Wednesday evening.
"The
police in Greenville, MS went to Temple Baptist Church this evening and
gave everyone there a ticket for $500 because they had a drive in
service," Hamilton posted. "Everyone was in their cars with the windows
up listening to pastor Arthur Scott preached on the radio. What is
harmful about people being in their cars listening to preaching with
their windows up? Christians do you all see what is going on?"
Parishioner
Chris Owens shared a video of a police officer giving him a citation
for attending the drive-in worship service. In the video, Owens explains
that the church wanted to comply with social distancing rules while
still meeting for worship. The officer issues the citation, regardless.
"One of the police officers said the mayor wanted to make an example of our church," Temple Baptist Church Pastor Arthur Scott told Todd Starnes. "I told them to get some more tickets ready because we will be preaching Sunday morning and Sunday night.
The elderly pastor
said that as many as 25 cars were in the parking lot for the service
and everyone in the cars was ticketed. Scott has pastored the church for
45 years.
"The police
officer said I might go to jail," Scott added. "If it means going to
jail and if it takes that for me to keep preaching, I’ll be glad to go
to jail."
Gov. Tate Reeves (R-Miss.) issued a stay-at-home order on April 1. On Wednesday, Reeves said he will not shut down churches, but he did encourage them not to hold Easter services in person.
"The
government does not have the right to shut down places of worship," the
governor said. "If you start taking people’s rights away, very rarely
does the government ever give them back to them."
He encouraged churches not to meet, but would not enforce a rule.
"Mississippi is not China, and it never will be," Reeves insisted.
Earlier,
the governor had acknowledged that some churches were holding drive-in
services, allowing cars to park outside the sanctuary to have socially
distant prayer and listen to a pastor's message on the radio. Reeves
said he does not believe the government has the power to shut down
churches, but he discouraged drive-in services.
"It's just hard to overcome our natural tendency to get out and say hello," he said last week.
Yet Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons, a Democrat who has endorsed Joe Biden, and the city council banned churches from hosting drive-in services on Tuesday.
"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.