DOJ Sides With Church Suing Virginia Gov. For Threatening Pastor With Fine, Jail Time For Holding 16-Person Service

DOJ Sides with Church Suing Virginia Governor Northam After Pastor Threatened with Fine, Jail Time For Holding 16-Person Service

Cristina Laila 

The Justice Department sided with a church suing Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) after the pastor was threatened with a fine and jail time for holding a 16-person service on Palm Sunday.

Kevin Wilson, the pastor of Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island, was threatened with jail time or a $2,000 fine by police for violating Northam’s unconstitutional Coronavirus lockdown order.

A total of 16 people attended the Palm Sunday church service on April 5 and were all spaced far apart from each other in a church that can seat 293 people.

None of the Democrat tyrants have been able to answer why people can flood into a Walmart and ‘social distance’ but they can’t go to church and sit 6 feet apart from one another.

The pastor sued Governor Northam and accused him of discriminating against the church and violating the First Amendment.

Fox News reported:

The Justice Department is siding with a Virginia church suing Gov. Ralph Northam after police threatened a pastor with jail time or a $2,500 fine for violating the state’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions by holding a 16-person church service on Palm Sunday.

“The Commonwealth of Virginia has offered no good reason for refusing to trust congregants who promise to use care in worship in the same way it trusts accountants, lawyers, and other workers to do the same,” the DOJ said in a statement of interest obtained by Fox News on Sunday.

Mat Staver, the chairman and founder of Liberty Counsel, representing the pastor, accused Northam, a Democrat, of discriminating against the church and violating the First Amendment.

“As important as it is that we stay safe during these challenging times, it is also important for states to remember that we do not abandon all of our freedoms in times of emergency,” Matthew Schneider, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a statement. “Unlawful discrimination against people who exercise their right to religion violates the First Amendment, whether we are in a pandemic or not.”

Northam was reportedly spotted at his beach house in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, violating his own stay-at-home order where only necessary travel was allowed.

In addition to violating his own order, Northam was violating North Carolina’s ‘residents only’ ban where only residents who have proof of North Carolinian residence are being admitted to the Outer Banks and Roanoke Island.