Sending Spies into Churches:

It seems as though the line between church and state is getting blurrier all the time.  First we had the Mayor of Houston demanding that that city’s pastors turn in their sermon to her office for approval (an order later rescinded) and now we have the city of Lake Worth, Florida, sending spies into churches.  It may sound like something out of George Orwell’s novel 1984, a novel about the dangers of Big Government, but it’s right here and right now.  It began when the city began demanding that any church operating in their town acquire a business license to operate. Of course, this in itself totally violates the First Amendment in all kinds of ways by going against freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for starters.   The regulations would have been enough to stir up a lot of trouble, but things got much worse.

The city became so threatened by the dangers posed by Christianity that decided to send in a code enforcement official to spy on a congregation that was meeting in a local coffee house. Common Ground Church owns the building and has been holding services there over the last three months. Mike Olive, the Pastor of the church, said the problems began after he met with city commissioner Andy Amoroso.  “After we opened up the coffee bar and started doing services, I heard that he told people we were anti-gay,” Olive said. “So I went to his shop to ask him about that.”

The pastor reportedly tried to convince Amoroso that the church’s message is ‘Love God, Love People.’  “Our message to the gay community is the same as it is to the straight community,” he said.

According to Olive, the commissioner did not seem to accept his message.  “He pointed at me and said, ‘Listen, you better not have a church down there,” Olive said.

A few weeks later a city code enforcement officer showed up for Sunday service wearing a hoodie and hiding a video camera. The next week another city official showed up at the church and told the congregation that they had one week to vacate the premises because they were operating a church without a proper business license. Apparently, a hundred people could gather there to buy and drink coffee BUT NOT to worship Jesus.

A story from the Lake Worth Tribune reveals that the Common Ground Church isn’t the only one suffering under the iron fist and unconstitutional rule of the city commissioners.  “It’s brand new,” Pastor Joan Abell, the interim part-time pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, told the Tribune. “We’ve been there 99 years and we’ve never had to have a license.”

Then the church’s administrative assistant, Barbara Stanton, called the city and spoke with a woman who said there would be no fee for a business license if the church produced paperwork showing that it was approved as a tax-exempt organization by the IRS. Stanton says she called the Presbytery and asked for this. When they’d located it, and sent to it Lake Worth, she had a church member take it down to the city offices at Second Avenue North, where they issue business licenses.  “She wouldn’t even accept it,” says Stanton. “She said no.”

She said the church member, John Powell, went to Commissioner Andy Amoroso to ask him about the license. “He said, ‘Oh, it’s for your own good,’” said Stanton.  “I’d like to know what the bottom line of this is, and why,” said Pastor Joan Abell. Abell was brought in to help the church get back on its feet after a steep decline in membership. The church only has 17 members left and most of them are elderly.  “Where do you all of a sudden say the church has to have a license to gather and pray?” asked Abell. “The session is not very pleased about it,” she said, talking about the board that leads the church. “They’re quite upset about it.”

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a law firm specializing in religious liberty cases, is representing Common Ground Church in their fight against the city.  “Government employees are public servants and prohibited by the Constitution from inhibiting religious freedom. That is a far cry from sneaking around and into a church and acting like KGB agents.” He also reminded the city of Lake Worth that, “Churches are not businesses and need not obtain such licenses.”

As of now, Common Ground Church has ceased meeting in their coffee house, and the church has been forced “underground,” which is as disheartening of a sentence as I’ve ever had to write.   This is America. Our foundation are solidly built on the tenets of freedom of religion, association and speech. The fact that any orthodox Christian worshipper is forced “underground” in our supposedly “free” nation is a travesty that would make our founders spin in their graves.

File this one under “Shades of Things to Come”.  It may not be the Beast with the seven horns described in Revelation, but it’s the rustling in the wind…can you hear it?

About the Author:

James Riordan .is the author of thirty-three books, including The Coming of the Walrus, The Bishop of Rwanda and Break on Through : The Life & Death of Jim Morrison which was made into the movie, The Doors by Oliver Stone.  Riordan also wrote Stone’s biography..  He has won nine national awards and was nominated for a Chicago Area Emmy for television writing.  He has also written several screenplays and is widely recognized for his ministry work with teenagers.