DOJ INTERVENES IN MISSISSIPPI DRIVE-IN CHURCH CASE, SAYS CITY’S ACTIONS ‘TARGET RELIGIOUS CONDUCT.’

DOJ INTERVENES IN MISSISSIPPI DRIVE-IN CHURCH CASE, SAYS CITY’S ACTIONS ‘TARGET RELIGIOUS CONDUCT’

The Justice Department is siding with Temple Baptist Church in Greenville, Miss., after Greenville police officers began issuing $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where the church was holding a drive-in service. 

In the statement of interest obtained exclusively by Fox News on Tuesday, the Justice Department said the U.S. regularly files statements of interest on “important issues of religious liberty in courts at every level, from trial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States.” 

It noted that Attorney General Bill Barr has “issued comprehensive guidance interpreting religious-liberty protections” under the Constitution. 

"Today, the Department filed a Statement of Interest in support of a church in Mississippi that allegedly sought to hold parking lot worship services, in which congregants listened to their pastor preach over their car radios, while sitting in their cars in the church parking lot with their windows rolled up," Attorney General Bill Barr said Tuesday. 

"The City of Greenville fined congregants $500 per person for attending these parking lot services – while permitting citizens to attend nearby drive-in restaurants, even with their windows open." 

He added: "The City appears to have thereby singled churches out as the only essential service (as designated by the state of Mississippi) that may not operate despite following all CDC and state recommendations regarding social distancing."