Judge rules against Louisiana pastor who defied state COVID-19 restrictions

[TexasTowelie]

Tony Spell, the charismatic Pentecostal pastor who defied the state’s order limiting crowd sizes, lost a battle in federal court this week when a judge ruled that the state had not mistreated his church.

“The Supreme Court has always recognized that religious freedom does not act as an absolute shield against generally applicable laws,” U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson of the federal court in Baton Rouge ruled. “To the extent that Plaintiffs argue that any restrictions on their right to gather violate the U.S. Constitution, they are clearly incorrect.”

Jackson also wrote: “The overwhelming consensus of courts throughout the United States reveals that reasonable restrictions on religious gatherings comply with Constitutional standards.”

Spell, the pastor of Life Tabernacle Church in Central, made headlines around the country after he refused to obey Gov. John Bel Edwards’ stay-at-home order in March at the height of the pandemic. The self-proclaimed prophet, who claimed the governor dislikes him because he turns Democrats into Republicans, repeatedly held indoor services with crowds in the hundreds at a time when the state was limiting the size of gatherings to 10. He gave numerous media interviews and openly scoffed at the governor’s order and made light of the seriousness of the pandemic, despite one of his congregants reportedly dying from the virus.

Read more: https://lailluminator.com/2020/11/12/judge-rules-against-louisiana-pastor-who-defied-state-covid-19-restrictions/