A Maryland church was fined for holding a service despite the county’s coronavirus stay-at-home order, prompting a call for the Department of Justice to investigate.
A Sunday service was held at Calvary Baptist Church in Dundalk, Maryland, on May 24 despite a stay-at-home order in Baltimore County, according to CBS 13 Baltimore.
“Our people were just ready to come back to church,” pastor Stacey Shiflet said.
The punitive fine leveled at the church inspired Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, to demand the Department of Justice get involved.
“If Baltimore County does not withdraw the fine by the time of the hearing on Tuesday, I do intend to ask the DOJ to investigate,” Harris said in a statement.
Attorney General William Barr has spoken out against churches being unfairly targeted during the coronavirus shutdown, saying that “the Constitution is not suspended in times of crisis.”
Shiflet has been at odds with the county over his frustration with the coronavirus lockdown measures dating back to mid-May, when he ripped up a cease and desist letter from local officials during a sermon.
“With this cease and desist letter in my hand, the Bible says to the New Testament church, ‘Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much the more as you see the day approaching,’ and the closer we get to Jesus coming back, the more church we ought to be having, not less church,” Shiflett said.
— Stacey Shiflett ?? (@staceyshiflett) May 21, 2020
More than 7,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Baltimore County, resulting in 395 deaths.
