Louisiana empowers churches to forcibly remove service protesters
Louisiana has passed two laws aimed at stopping people from disrupting church services, months after protesters made national headlines by disrupting a Minnesota church service in opposition to one of its pastors serving as a federal immigration enforcement agent.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed House Bill 294, which helps empower churches to remove trespassers from their property, and House Bill 68, which expands the legal definition of disturbing the peace to include disrupting worship services.
HB 294 states that any religious leader, security team member "or person who is lawfully on the premises of a church or other place of worship" can request a trespasser or disruptive individual to leave the premises. If those requests are not granted, the law gives people lawfully present at the facility the right to use "reasonable and apparently necessary force" to remove the trespasser from the property.
“In Louisiana, we are committed to maintaining the right to worship without interference, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to safeguarding religious liberty,” Landry said in a statement Monday. “With the signing of these two bills, those protections just became stronger.”
Democratic Rep. Edmond Jordan was among the critics of HB 294, telling the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Gabe Firment, earlier this year that he believed the bill could be used to advance discrimination.
“If somebody of the opposite race comes into the church and a member of the church is offended by that, and says that they are trespassing — they’re not being disruptive — but they determine that they’re trespassing and they ask them to leave, now they’re just there to worship, you don’t see your bill opening that up?” Jordan asked Firment.
Firment dismissed such situations as “far-fetched scenarios." Jordan replied that “your bill goes about disruption and it also speaks of trespassing,” noting that it “goes beyond disruption.”
“Let’s not cloak this under the disruption part, because it’s greater than that,” Jordan added. “When we make these laws, we have to take into consideration all of those scenarios.”
In January, protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, disrupting a worship service because one of the pastors worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The large group of protesters interrupted the sermon with loud declarations, including chants of “ICE Out!” and “Stand up, fight back!” Some congregants said they felt personally threatened.
More than 30 people have been indicted for their alleged involvement in the incident, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent reporter Georgia Fort.
The protest also sparked a civil lawsuit filed by a Cities Church member in U.S. District Court for Minnesota, accusing protesters of civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, aiding and abetting, trespassing and interference with religious exercise.
In response to the Cities Church incident, some states have considered legislation that would toughen penalties for those who disrupt worship services.
For example, in late February, the Alabama House of Representatives passed House Bill 363, which would make it a felony to disrupt a church service. The measure has been sent to the state Senate for further consideration.
