“Upholding the Constitution to the best of my ability, so help me God.” -Josh Schriver
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Dear Neighbor,
This is my most recent in a series of advanced notices on what current Democrat Leadership is aiming to pass on the House Floor:
Free Speech
During the lockdowns, Pastor Aaron Rock decided to hold church services at Harvest Bible Church right across the Detroit river in Windsor, Ontario. Canadian Prime Minister Doug Ford put in place very tight restrictions on how many church members could attend Sunday morning services in Ontario.
While many American and Canadian church leaders decided to cancel church services early on, many realized that depriving their members of fellowship began to take a toll on their congregations.
For many, regular religious fellowship is as important as breathing air, drinking water or eating food. Even Gallup recognized that the “halting of in-person worship during the pandemic is one of the most significant sudden disruptions in the practice of religion in U.S. history.”1
Harvest Bible Church leadership said, “Lockdowns are causing serious damage to our community and that we are obligated under divine law to meet in person to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to administer the Lord’s Supper, to baptize and disciple one another, and to be a place of refuge."2
Whether you are a religious person or not, I think we can all agree that protecting religious liberty in the land of the free and the home of the brave is critical to national survivability. However, in Canada, many church leaders have been placed in a very difficult position where they had to choose between following their conscience and bowing down to their government. Pastor Aaron Rock recognized the devastating effects the lockdown orders were having on the health of his congregation. As a result, he chose to follow his conscience and hold church gatherings.
As a result, Canadian officials threatened Rock with up to 1 year in jail and $10,000-$100,000 in fines for each of the two times he violated the lockdown orders put in place by the Health Department.3 Although these charges were eventually dropped, he had to stand before a jury and explain why he should not go to jail for exercising his right to freedom of religion as outlined in the Canadian Charter.
Other Canadian pastors suffered too. At the Aylmer Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario (just over 2 hours west of here), local law enforcement obtained a court order, disrupted a church service, and asked the whole congregation to leave immediately. They would not let the Pastor get inside his own church for 4 months. Pastor Greg Hildebrandt’s church was forced to pay $274,000 in fines.
Some have argued these restrictions were necessary to save lives. However, many times, these draconian lockdown orders gave officials nearly unlimited authority to infringe upon religious liberty. Power-hungry leaders chose to follow the ever-changing “science”, forgetting their oath to defend the rights of their citizens as outlined in the Charter for the sake of political expediency. 4 years later, their government is far less constrained than it was before these orders.
While churches have been open for several years now, religious persecution has not slowed down. In Calgary, Artur Pawlowski was arrested for protesting at a Drag Queen Story Hour event. He called it “sick, twisted perversion.” According to Fox News, he was faced with 8 charges: one count of causing a disturbance, one count of mischief, and six counts of harassment.4 Each charge carried up to $10,000 in fines or 6 months in prison if the fine was not paid. He was charged with a hate crime.
I’ve heard it said before, “what is happening in Canada could never happen here because of our Constitution.” Our Constitution is only as good as the commitment our leaders have to following it. Unfortunately, this is very hard to come by in the 21st Century. In Grand Rapids, a wedding venue was forced to pay a $500 fine for prohibiting weddings for same-sex couples. The government penalized them for choosing to follow their conscience instead of bowing down to a local ordinance that violates their ability to follow their conscience.5
Last fall, House Bill 4474 was introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives to make it a felony for someone to cause another person to "feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.” Fox News said this bill could result in $10,000 fines for misgendering someone - along with prison time for not more than 5 years.6 Although the Democrats eliminated this provision in the Michigan Senate substitute version before advancing it to the House floor for a final vote after Spring Break, we must still be vigilant. Hate crime legislation is a very dangerous slope. Just look at how these pastors have been treated in Canada!
Hate crime legislation is not Constitutional. In 303 Creative v. Elenis, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said the right to freedom of speech in our Constitution not only protects the rights of American citizens to speak their mind, but it also prohibits our government from compelling individuals to “speak its own preferred messages.”
As your State Representative, I believe no Michigan resident should fear jail time or criminal charges for exercising their 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech. As your State Representative, I will do everything I can to stop this draconian legislation from reaching the Governor’s desk for her signature.
God Bless You,
Representative Joshua Schriver
Religion and the COVID-19 Virus in the U.S. by Frank Newport - April 6, 2020 - Gallup Poll
Windsor pastor 'pleasantly surprised' after Crown drops anti-lockdown charges - Doug Schmidt - Windsor Star - February 9, 2023
Windsor pastor 'pleasantly surprised' after Crown drops anti-lockdown charges - Doug Schmidt - Windsor Star - February 9, 2023
Canadian pastor arrested second time for protesting children's drag queen events: 'Sick, twisted perversion' - March 16, 2023 - Fox News - by Jon Brown
Anti-LGBTQ wedding venue becomes first to be penalized under Grand Rapids’ 2019 law - MLive
Michigan House passes bill that could make using wrong pronouns a felony, fineable up to $10,000 - Fox News - June 30, 2023