Five years ago — and now this. . .

Mar 29, 2025

Tomorrow marks the 5-year anniversary of an egregious theft of freedom — the first pastor to be arrested for holding worship. And today, two anti-Christian governors are continuing their assault on religious freedom.

Liberty Counsel just filed at the U.S. Supreme Court against NY Gov. Kathy Hochul and will soon file against ME Gov. Janet Mills. 

The COVID “crisis” these governors used as an excuse to rob Christians of their constitutional and federal rights is long past. The hysteria these and other politicians ginned up has faded into an almost shameful memory. 

Except these two governors are still punishing the Christians who refuse to relinquish their religious freedom rights! Now Liberty Counsel is dragging these two anti-Christian governors to the Supreme Court, because if governors can rob Christians of their religious freedom rights in this context, they will rob us of our rights in every other context, and religious liberty will be relegated to the dustbin of history, just like COVID. 

Help us shut down the governors who tried to shut down Christianity with your gift today. A Challenge Grant will DOUBLE your impact! 

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne once said he wouldn’t close his church until the End Times began. Then a rogue leftist mayor had him arrested for refusing to obey her unlawful directive. 

Five years ago tomorrow, Liberty Counsel received an urgent phone call. Police helicopters were circling over the pastor’s home. Police cars lined the street in front of his house. 

Pastor Rodney was being arrested for simply opening his church. 

The pastor grabbed only his driver’s license and a little cash for bail. 

The pastor opened the door. 

“ARE YOU PACKING?” the officer asked, ridiculously insinuating the pastor might come out with guns blazing. 

“Of course not,” the pastor replied. The police officers cuffed him like a common criminal. His wife watched as her husband was placed in the back of a squad car and driven to the county jail. 

He was booked, fingerprinted, photographed for a mug shot, and placed in a cell while his wife waited in the lobby. 

The River Church of Tampa, FL — Pastor Rodney’s church — has a unique ministry. The church campus has an aquaponic farming system that allows this church to provide fresh and organic food to over 900 impoverished Tampa Bay-area families. Every Sunday, Pastor Rodney’s church feeds hungry souls with both physical and spiritual nourishment. 

Don’t let godless governors and rogue politicians erase religious freedom. Support our legal fund with your recurring monthly gift today. 

Despite liberal Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s unlawful shutdown orders, Pastor Rodney’s flock had to be fed. Mayor Castor allowed Home Depot, abortion clinics, and even liquor stores to remain open, but she wanted the River Church — and its food ministry — shuttered. 

Pastor Rodney was the first pastor in the nation to be arrested for opening his church during COVID. He wouldn’t be the last. In the following days and weeks, Liberty Counsel would receive thousands of calls from all over the nation. Churches were under attack. We got to work. 

Known for our decades of religious freedom legal work, Liberty Counsel saw pastors, churches, and churchgoers from around the nation ask for help. Attacks on religious liberty were happening from coast to coast, with the most egregious violations in California, Illinois, New York, and Maine. 

It has been five years since secularists tried to shutter churches and force Christians to violate their deeply held religious beliefs. We won twice at the U.S. Supreme Court. But shockingly, Liberty Counsel is still fighting some of these cases! Unless we win, godless governors will be free to rob citizens of ALL religious freedom rights until those rights are mere memories. 

The U.S. Supreme Court MUST act now to prevent tyrannical anti-Christian governors from ever again robbing Christians of their religious freedom rights. Fund our legal work with your gift today. 

New York Gov. Cathy Hochul and Maine Gov. Janet Mills outrageously ordered every health care employer in their respective states to violate clear federal law. Their unlawful and unconstitutional orders demanded that employers ignore federal Title VII law and purposefully discriminate against religious employees. Any employee who refused to take the experimental COVID shot was to be fired. Federal law requiring religious accommodation was to be ignored. Employers that chose to obey federal law would have their state-issued health care licenses revoked. 

What happened was the most egregious theft of religious liberty rights in American history — and sadly, Liberty Counsel is STILL fighting these cases, because these two governors REFUSED to rescind their orders!

Worse yet, ME Gov. Mills has continued to harass one church in particular, Calvary Chapel, for five straight years! 

The COVID scare is long over. But the tyranny it fueled continues to run rampant. If we allow these governors to get away with robbing Christians of these religious freedom rights, they will be free to rob Christians of any other right. Liberty Counsel will not allow that to happen. 

But we cannot do this important work without your direct financial support. Please consider making a recurring monthly gift to fund our legal work. It has taken five long years to bring these cases through the court system to the U.S. Supreme Court. Your gift will be DOUBLED and help ensure that Liberty Counsel has the means to fight for religious freedom no matter how long a case takes to resolve. Please, give generously today. 

Mat Staver 
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel 

P.S. Join us for our 2025 Gala on April 5 with keynote speaker Congressman Byron Donalds, along with his wife, Erika. The theme is “A New Birth of Freedom.” Register now!

 

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