A Florida megachurch shut its doors to in-person services this week — not because it wanted to protect its members from the coronavirus, but because its pastor, the Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne, had been arrested.

“I actually have no choice at this juncture but to shut the church down this Sunday,” Howard-Browne said during his radio show on Wednesday. “I have to do this to protect the congregation — not from the virus but from a tyrannical government.”

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