Police arrest Florida pastor for holding church services despite stay-at-home order

(apologies if already posted; the advance search was just spinning)

(CNN) Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne said he wouldn't close the doors of his Tampa, Florida, megachurch until the End Times begin. The police weren't willing to wait that long.

On Monday, Florida sheriff's deputies arrested the evangelical pastor, who has continued to host large church services despite public orders urging residents to stay home to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Howard-Browne has been charged with two counts: unlawful assembly and a violation of health emergency rules. Both are second-degree misdemeanors, Chronister said at a press conference Monday.

(snip)

At a church service on March 15, Howard-Browne said he would not close his church's doors until the Rapture, when believers will be lifted up to heaven, according to evangelical theology. At the same service, the pastor said he won't close his Bible School either, "because we are raising up revivalists, not pansies."

"I'm not again negating that people are dying from the coronavirus," he said. "We're not saying that, just saying that the thing is blown totally way out of proportion and if you shut the church down, the church is not a non-essential service."

More..

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/us/florida-pastor-arrested-river-church/index.html