By Liberty Counsel ——Bio and Archives--May 23, 2020
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“The City mentions the church burning in its latest brief, but in a manner less commendable than condemnable. One might expect a city to express sympathy or outrage (or both) when a neighborhood house of worship is set ablaze. One would be mistaken. Rather than condemn the crime’s depravity, the City seized advantage, insisting that the Church’s First Amendment claim necessarily went up in smoke when the church did: ‘the Church was destroyed from an arson fire . . . making the permanent injunction claim moot.’This argument is shameful. When the parishioners of First Pentecostal Church leave their homes on Sundays, they are not going to church; they are the church. The church is not the building. When the New Testament speaks of the church, it never refers to brick-and-mortar places where people gather, but to flesh-and-blood people who gather together. Think people, not steeple.” The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals now joins the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in granting emergency injunctions pending appeal for churches against unconstitutional executive orders. Liberty Counsel represents Maryville Baptist Church in Kentucky in the Sixth Circuit case. Thus far, two Circuit Courts of Appeal have granted emergency injunctions for churches. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The emergency relief granted by the Court of Appeals to the Mississippi church is bittersweet. This is a great victory for the church and for all churches. The pastor and the members have lost their building that was destroyed by hatred inspired by fiery rhetoric. However, they have defended the freedom to worship, and that legacy will last forever.”
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