Pastor Hamilton of King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi is rejecting the mandate to limit drive-in religious services.
What are they going to do? Arrest the pastor and put him in a crowded jail cell?
Police surrounded the parking lot services.
Charles Hamilton was administering drive-in service as a pastor at the King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville on Thursday night before a squad of police cars circled the church and threatened to fine anyone who refused to leave after local officials banned public congregations in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“I’m a good citizen. I ain’t breaking no law, I ain’t selling no drugs, I’m just preaching the word of God, and look at all these police cars here,” Hamilton said in a video livestreamed on social media. “This is America, private property of a church. Look at this, y’all, there’s more police pulling up.”
The police said his rights were suspended by the governed, but Pastor Hamilton rejected that notion.
Watch:
Video from Pastor Hamilton of King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville, MS. Church tried the “drive-in” method of holding services & were targeted due to the Mayor issuing an order prohibiting such services. Watch as an officer tells the Pastor that his rights are suspended. pic.twitter.com/zLdT6Qd8ew
— Nick Short 🇺🇸 (@PoliticalShort) April 11, 2020
The entire police force showed up to storm the church service.
THEY’RE GETTING FINED FOR NOW
A neighboring church in Greenville was given $500 tickets for holding drive-in services. The pastor there was giving his sermon from a bullhorn while people rolled down their car windows but stayed in their cars.
Texas-based First Liberty Institute emailed a letter to Greenville officials Thursday demanding that the city drop the “draconian and unconstitutional” restriction on worship services.
The mayor said he issued the order tightening up restrictions because churches were holding weddings and funerals.
Most of the pastors in Mississippi are fine with the restrictions.
A case in Kansas is now before the Kansas Supreme Court protesting the ban against religious gatherings of more than 10 people. It is rather arbitrary.
In Kentucky, the mayor of Louisville banned drive-in services and told neighbors to snitch on neighbors.
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Cannot suspend anyone rights with out a writ of habious corpus and a national order of martial law. Bullies like these officers need to be put in their place. Bet that is why they showed up with so much force. Were worried the citizens would over take them and they should have.
I tell you Greenville MS you really did a alot for reputation in the USA with this mess.
You Neshoba County and Philadelphia look tame.
If your rights can be suspended then they’re not rights at all. Ladies & gentlemen, this is an outright assault on our Constitution and our rights, all of our God given rights, that our Constitution guarantees. And the key here is God given rights because those who are doing this view government as their god.
You are not following lock down protocal…
Neither are those working in grocery stores, fast food places and a host of others. You could very well catch something from that check-out clerk. Ban clerks and use only self-checkout. Use robots to deliver orders at fast-food places.
These law enforcement officers were violating their oath. The pastor took reasonable steps to ensure the safety of his congregation, everyone stayed inside their vehicles with their windows down. Those $500 tickets should be challenged in court, this is clearly a violation of 1st amendment rights.