"Churches must refuse to comply with this order – even if it means pastors and church leadership must be incarcerated. We cannot and must not allow the government access to our church membership lists . . ."
Editor's Note: In NAZI Germany, and in the Communist USSR and China, a common source of persecution involved the State appropriation of Church records. By reviewing the contents of Church membership lists, The German government identified Jews, and the Soviet government identified Christians. Communists in Hungary did likewise. Communist China, too, has required church membership rolls to be made available to government authorities.
Now, in the United States of America, government overreach has arrived at a place where Communists and NAZIs dared to trod. Under the guise of "public health standards", they are violating longstanding guarantees in the Bill of Rights, which had protected religious activity from government oversight and control.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, has ordered pastors to turn over the names, address and phone numbers of anyone who enters church houses.
“Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined Nazi-like measures designed to surveil, track and spy upon what was once a FREE American people,” Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said. “Yet that is exactly what Kansas City’s misguided government officials are now demanding.”
Liberty Counsel, a law firm that handles religious liberty cases, tells the Todd Starnes Radio Show that they are representing several churches that allege their constitutional rights are being violated.
“I am running out of adjectives to describe how completely insane the tyrannical abuses launched by state governors and local officials against pastors and churches are becoming,” Staver said in a statement. “It is as if these leaders never bothered to so much as glance at the Constitution they swore to uphold and defend. They seem to be governing from some make-believe, dystopian viewpoint.”
The city’s order states:
“Religious gatherings, including but not limited to, weddings, funerals, memorial services, and wakes, of ten persons inside or ten percent of building occupancy (whichever number is greater) and fifty people outside may resume, provided social distancing is maintained and event organizers maintain a record of attendees.”
“Data obtained by the Department of Public Health, pursuant to this provision, shall, to the extent allowed by law, remain confidential in accordance with professional pubic health standards and may be used only to address public health concerns,” the order further reads.
Rich Bott, president of Kansas City-based Bott Radio Network, told Metro Voice News the mayor’s order is a violation of longstanding guarantees in the Bill of Rights that protect religious activity from government oversight and control.
“This is outrageous on the part of the KC municipal government officials. They are treating churches the same as businesses for COVID contact tracing purposes,” Bott said. “This is a massive overreach violating the sanctity of churches and the privacy of their attendees. This must not go unchallenged.”
Churches must refuse to comply with this order – even if it means pastors and church leadership must be incarcerated. We cannot and must not allow the government access to our church membership lists.
Editor's Note: Numerous websites are claiming this story to be "fake news" or to be "partially false", because Mayor Lucas backtracked the day after the initial news story broke. While the initial order was indeed compulsory, on the following day the city updated the law, making the government appropriation of church records only requested, not required.
The government wants it to be mandatory. That's why they worded the law the way they did initially. However, at this time, they have decided not to use force. For now, they won't break down the church doors and confiscate the church's membership rolls. Instead, they will only ask your church to turn over it's membership rolls, in hopes that your church will politely comply.
The government will still appropriate church attendance records. But they will do so politely. I'm sure that will make everyone feel much better.