Attorney General Bill Barr announced Tuesday that the City of Greenville in Mississippi appeared to have “singled churches out” as essential services that may not operate according to state social-distancing guidelines, Fox News reported.
The Justice Department intervened in Temple Baptist Church’s lawsuit against Greenville police for ticketing congregants during a drive-in service amid coronavirus social-distancing rules, saying that it “strongly suggests that the city’s actions target religious conduct,” according to Fox.
Police began issuing $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where the church was holding a drive-in service, prompting the Justice Department to file a statement of interest following the church’s lawsuit. “The United States has a substantial interest in the preservation of its citizens’ fundamental right to the free exercise of religion, expressly protected by the First Amendment,” the statement says…………..