Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor of a mega church in Florida was arrested Monday for refusing to not cancel his church services due to the stay at home order issued by Hillsborough County.

Pastor Howard-Browne has been charged with unlawful assembly and violation of public health emergency rules.  Both of which are misdemeanors.

The Stay at home order only allows the public to leave for essential services.  Again, I say, the first amendment protects us from the government tell us what reasons are permissible reasons to assemble.  You can read an article I wrote framed as an opening statement against the unconstitutional stay at home orders here.

According to Pastor Howard-Browne’s attorney the church took steps to ensure the safety of the congregants and the following of the social distancing guidelines.

Not only did the church comply with the administrative order regarding six-foot distancing, it went above and beyond any other business to ensure the health and safety of the people.

The church gave out hand sanitizer to each attendee and church staff, while wearing gloves, enforced the 6 ft social distancing rule between family groups.

This is a scary trend we are seeing used as a club against the religious community.  New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio said on his daily press conference that if worship services continue to persist during this epidemic they will “take additional action up the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently.”  You can see the clip here.

We’ll see how this plays out in a court but it is disgusting when a pastor gets arrested for helping United State citizens first amendment rights to assemble and practice their religion.  It is a dark time in America.