Breaking: Mississippi Pastor Claims Church Burned Down Because They Chose to Worship In-Person

Everyone knows the absolute hatred liberals carry for the Second Amendment.

When it comes to the portion of the First Amendment that protects the right to freedom of religion, however, it’s hard to tell which riles them up more.

Democrats have used the COVID pandemic as an excuse to close places of worship, even if they obey social distancing orders.

They’d probably like to see these churches permanently closed.

But for some, it may not be enough to see churches closed.

They want to see them burned to the ground.

A church in Mississippi now no longer exists after extensive fire damage. Police are officially investigating the fire as arson. The fire occurred shortly after the church filed a lawsuit alleging that city officials were abridging their First Amendment rights.

Here’s the full details as reported by KMOV:

A church in Mississippi burned to the ground, about a month after its pastor filed a lawsuit challenging city officials on gathering restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak.

First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Mississippi, burned down Wednesday morning. When investigators from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office got to the scene, they reportedly found graffiti in the church parking lot that read: “Bet you stay home now you hypokrites.”

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday condemned the fire, which is being investigated as an arson. 

“This is not who we are as a people,” Reeves said during a news conference in Jackson. “This is not who we are as a state.”

Pastor Jerry Waldrop said he and other church leaders have no idea who might have set the fire or left the graffiti.

“No enemies that we know of,” Waldrop said. “We don’t know anyone that we even think could be capable of doing something like this.”

The church sued the city of Holly Springs in April, alleging police officers had disrupted a church Bible study and Easter service. Holly Springs City Attorney Shirley Byers said nearly 40 worshipers inside the church building were not practicing social distancing on April 10 when a violation citation was issued for the church.

Churchgoers practiced social distancing while indoors and only held indoor services when bad weather would not allow them to gather outside, the lawsuit said. Byers said the city amended its local order in late April to allow for drive-thru church services.

It’s sickening enough that churches around the country have to file lawsuits in order to remain open.

Now they have to add arson to their list of worries!

As expected, the mainstream media has mostly allowed cricket sounds to collect around the story.

USA Today, however, did allow the church’s pastor to publish the following opinion piece:

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that in America, in our church — the First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs, Mississippi — I would see armed police standing in our aisles, ordering us to shut down our worship services. 

Even worse, I never thought that in America I’d experience what it was like for those armed policemen to hand me an official government document, ordering our community of faithful to cease and desist worshiping on Easter Sunday and to depart the House of God.

Or that, in America, we would have to go to court to confirm our right to the free exercise of religion, to peacefully assemble and to raise our voices in the adoration of God — rights that are expressly guaranteed in our beloved Constitution’s First Amendment and for which the brave men and women in our military services have fought and died.

On Easter Sunday, police officers with the city of Holly Springs interrupted our service and issued me a citation for violating an unconstitutional stay at home order. Ten days later, our peaceful Bible study was shut down although we were following all social distancing guidelines. But the nightmare wasn’t over. Last Wednesday, someone burned down our church, leaving only a smoldering mass of debris and our dreams. They left graffiti, trying to shame us for worshiping together in our church.

Who would do such a thing? Why would anyone want to destroy a sacred place where the faithful venerate God in their own way, in a way that does not intrude on others’ rights or disrupt their lives?

But critics tell us that we are selfish, and that by gathering we are endangering other people who might believe differently.

Contrary to the city’s claims, we were following the rules about social distancing. Some rows of pews were left empty. People who were not members of the same family were seated at least 6 feet apart. We only came inside when the weather was too extreme to worship outside.

If we are such a danger to everyone, why does Holly Springs allow stores like the local Walmart to violate the same rules that we are accused of violating? After our Easter service, several congregants and I went there and found people without masks, people shopping and standing close together, and people acting as if the coronavirus pandemic was someone else’s problem. How is it that these shoppers were not ordered to go back home and stay there? Does the Constitution guarantee shoppers greater rights to assemble than people of faith? 

We are not part of any campaign to challenge the scientists and their dire warnings. They are as aware as everyone else, including us, that the models generating those portents have not always turned out to be correct. They are doing the best they can, and we will continue to rely on them to lead us out of this nightmare.

But they are not the elected civil authorities who are by oath — as the Constitution’s preamble declares — required to “promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

Fortunately, many on Twitter are circulating the story: