Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told police to take down tag numbers of people attending churches and other gatherings on Easter so the government could go to their homes and impose a 14-day quarantine over COVID-19 concerns.
The report comes from NewsChannel 5 in Nashville.
Beshear said all but seven churches agreed not to gather in person today, and he continued his call to cancel gatherings.
For those who decide to participate in a mass gathering of any type of which the state is notified of, the license plates of those individuals will be recorded and given to health department officials. They will then visit the individuals home bringing with them an order to quarantine for 14 days.
The enforcement does not apply to drive-in churches.
The response by the Democratic Kentucky governor differs from that of Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who said he plans to allow businesses to reopen soon in a “safe way,” Newsweek reported.
Abbott said Texas, which would be the world’s 11th largest economy it were an independent country, could find a balance between personal safety and economic security.
“We will focus on protecting lives while restoring livelihoods,” Abbott said on Friday at a news conference.
Indeed, the response by Kentucky’s Democratic governor is more in line with that promoted by Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
LifeNews reported that masked police last Sunday entered a service at Lighthouse Fellowship in Chincoteague Island, Virginia, for holding a church service for 16 people spaced far apart in a sanctuary that seats 293. They are charged with violating Northam’s COVID Order 55 with a penalty up to a year in jail and/or a $2,500 fine. Liberty Counsel is representing Pastor Kevin Wilson and the church.
Wilson received a summons and a warning that if he held Easter service with more than 10 people, everyone would receive the same summons.
The church serves people battling drug addiction, mental illness, poverty and prostitution, and many do not have driver’s licenses and depend on the church for food and rides.
The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) reported that police issued $500 fines to members of Temple Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi for sitting in their cars in the church parking lot while the pastor broadcast the sermon over their car radios.
The Greenville mayor is Erick Simmons, a Democrat.
Perhaps Simmons is too busy worrying about social distancing at churches to administer basic city functions.
Greenville residents are currently endangered because the city’s wastewater treatment plant discharged untreated sewage into the Mississippi River.
Simmons issued an executive order requiring all church buildings to be closed for both in-person and drive-in church services, CBN said. The mayor’s action followed Gov. Tate Reeves’s shelter-in-place order to all citizens on April 3.
Church member Lee Gordon, a county board of supervisor member, said many church members are seniors who do not have access to technology to stream services online. He and his wife each were hit with $500 tickets.
Christian nonprofit law firm Alliance Defending Freedom is filing a lawsuit requesting a federal court enact a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction so Temple Baptist’s members can attend Easter services in their cars, The Washington Times reported.
“If [government] allows waiting in the car at Sonic it should permit a drivethru Easter service,” tweeted Kristen Waggoner, ADF senior vice president and counsel for Trinity Baptist Church, about the city’s action. “Safety is critical. So is following the Constitution. First Amendment isn’t completely suspended nor does [government] have unlimited authority to target churches however they please. There are limits.”
A second Greenville church, King James Bible Baptist Church, attempted a service at a drive-in theater. Police met parishioners there ready to issue tickets.
A Twitter user posted video filmed by King James pastor Charles Hamilton:
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.
https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/1249019585887698945
In the video, you can hear the pastor telling an officer church assembly is a Constitutional right, which is God-given, not government-given. The officer replies it can be suspended, and mentioned the military.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “Church Parking Lot” by Marine 69-71. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Kentucky residents…….remember this when you vote. Beshear stepped way out of bounds.
The question begs, were the governors in question willing to allow the police to enter churches to apprehend criminals (aka, illegal aliens ) who were given sanctuary by activist, law-breaking apostate churches? The answer is NO! In fact, there is no doubt, illegal aliens, still being harbored by the so-called churches.
The bottom line is left-wing politicians are not letting a crisis pass where they can impose their despotic will and intolerance Christian believers on those they deem to be their subjects.
To the haters out there who are offended by the truth, below is the proof.
http://oga.pcusa.org/section/mid-council-ministries/immigration/sanctuary/
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local-churches-continue-to-open-their-doors-to-undocumented-immigrants-to-provide-a-sanctuary-from-ice/65-55c15a8a-7f8a-4cca-875b-a20e2bbd8d68
I understand the need to practice religion but possibly exposing yourself to a deadly very contagious virus is one thing but you are also exposing others as well. For the sake of protecting others as well as yourself, what’s the harm in worshiping in your own home. You can read the Bible, pray, speak over the phone with other like minded people, as well as other activities that don’t require being in public. Sometimes when the public makes bad decisions that endangers lives, the government has to step in and take steps to protect citizens. The governor is doing what is best for us all. Stop using politics as an excuse and do the right thing. Hopefully this won’t be forever and the churches can reopen.
It is call personal freedom. Possibly you have forgotten what that means.
If the KY Governor ordered this police action, he is acting criminally.
“Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy. To declare that, in the administration of the law, the end justifies the means would bring a terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine, this Court should resolutely set its face.” –Louis D. Brandeis, SCOTUS Justice, Dissenting, Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928).
Bevins was bad but Beshear is a total disaster using police state tactics.
Beshear is a left-wing authoritarian, who will take even more of the Commonwealth citizen’s freedoms, the next chance that he gets!
Kentucky had a GREAT Governor, Matt Bevin. They squandered an opportunity to make Kentucky great again. Instead, now, they’ll have to struggle through four years of mediocrity and stolen liberties. Sad!
You are nuts we have a great governor now that is trying to save our lives
This not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is not a bout Left or right. This is about a humanitarian effort to save lives. I want lives saved. Your freedom ends where mine begins. I want lives saved in this life or death situation.
I agree.
Ppl want to make this political and it’s not.
It’s about trying to save as many lives as possible.
Yes The lord is handling Governors and police his way All the state locations wher Governor police shut down churches being evil is getting hit Sunday Monday with serious high wind storms in bible Nehum 1:-13 He will pull police away from attacking churches with storm emergency’s Gods the Boss
I remember when Democrats were mostly classical liberals. Now they are most all leftist authoritarians.