Louisiana
Related: About this forumJudge rules against Louisiana pastor who defied state COVID-19 restrictions
Tony Spell, the charismatic Pentecostal pastor who defied the states order limiting crowd sizes, lost a battle in federal court this week when a judge ruled that the state had not mistreated his church.
The Supreme Court has always recognized that religious freedom does not act as an absolute shield against generally applicable laws, U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson of the federal court in Baton Rouge ruled. To the extent that Plaintiffs argue that any restrictions on their right to gather violate the U.S. Constitution, they are clearly incorrect.
Jackson also wrote: The overwhelming consensus of courts throughout the United States reveals that reasonable restrictions on religious gatherings comply with Constitutional standards.
Spell, the pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, made headlines around the country after he refused to obey Gov. John Bel Edwards stay-at-home order in March at the height of the pandemic. The self-proclaimed prophet, who claimed the governor dislikes him because he turns Democrats into Republicans, repeatedly held indoor services with crowds in the hundreds at a time when the state was limiting the size of gatherings to 10. He gave numerous media interviews and openly scoffed at the governors order and made light of the seriousness of the pandemic, despite one of his congregants reportedly dying from the virus.
Read more: https://lailluminator.com/2020/11/12/judge-rules-against-louisiana-pastor-who-defied-state-covid-19-restrictions/
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Hopefully this will send a message.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,595 posts)Religious organizations comply with all sorts of regulations such as building codes, so why not adhere to reasonable health rules during a pandemic?
Nothing is worst for America's future than a brain-washed right-wing preacher. We can be rid of a miscreant president in four years but some preachers stay in position for decades.
KY
MyOwnPeace
(17,273 posts)and hide it in a cave.
Send him a map to find it.
He'll believe that!
localroger
(3,701 posts)Spell is an idiot. Those codes were applied to everybody evenly, not particularly to his church or even churches in general. Covid restrictions are no different from a billion other health and safety codes which apply to everybody, including churches.