Landlord changes locks on California church after pastor said he'd continue to hold services

Members of a central California church found themselves locked out of the bulding after the pastor originally kept his doors open, saying the shelter-in-place orders violated his freedom to assemble.

But within the past week, the landlord of the Cross Culture Christian Center in Lodi, Calif. changed the locks, so congregants couldn't enter the building for Palm Sunday services. The landlord is Bethel Open Bible Church.

The San Joaquin County Health Department had ordered the church to shut down last week.

A small gathering of congregants showed up Sunday; they had been poised to defy the shelter-in-place order. And they weren't pleased with the turn of events.

"I'm not thrilled in general with the restriction on religious liberties," said Jeremy Duncan, the pastor's brother. "Especially during what is Christian's most holy week."

Church vs. coronavirus: California pastor says stay-at-home orders violate freedom of religion

His brother, Pastor Jon Duncan, had continued to hold in-person services despite the coronavirus outbreak.

“We’re going to meet as often as we can meet, and we do believe that this right is protected by the 1st Amendment and should be considered essential,” Duncan said in an interview with Fox 40 last week.

On March 25, Lodi police officers came to one of Duncan’s Wednesday services and told the pastor about county and state orders against public meetings, the LA Times reported

The church retained a lawyer from the Escondido-based National Center for Law & Policy, a conservative Christian nonprofit law center.

An attorney there told the Times h... (Read more)

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