This Is Scary!

“NAZI-LIKE MEASURES” Kansas City Orders Churches to Turn Over Membership Lists

By

 Todd Starnes

 -

May 3, 2020

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.

(This is something I predicted would happen in my new book, “Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left From Killing a Nation.” Click here for that book.)

“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.”

LIBERATE AMERICA: Social media is cracking down on Conservative content. Many of you have complained that you never see our content in your news feeds. There’s only one way to fight back — and that’s by subscribing to my FREE weekly newsletter. Click here.

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.