1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Florida City Government Now Sending “Spies” into Churches!

Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by Revmitchell, Mar 23, 2015.

  1. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2006
    Messages:
    52,013
    Likes Received:
    3,649
    Faith:
    Baptist
    In what sounds like a chapter out of Orwell’s 1984, the city of Lake Worth in Florida has been involved in some disgusting deals of late. The city started down a dark and unconstitutional road when they began demanding that any church operating in their town acquire a business license to operate. The fact that this requirement quite obviously violates the First Amendment in multiple ways (freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly) did not deter the city from pushing forward in their persecution.

    The city didn’t stop with their draconian regulations though… they went much further.

    The city was so worried about the dangers posed by Christianity that they went so far as to send in a code enforcement officer to spy on a congregation that was meeting in a local coffee house!

    Common Ground Church owns and operates the coffee house and has been using the space for worship services over the last three months. The Pastor of the church, Mike Olive, said that their troubles 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.”

    Pastor Olive told me he tried to convey to 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.


    Read more at http://eaglerising.com/15901/florida-city-government-now-sending-spies-churches/#pAz53cYseGfJmLAx.99
     
  2. Crabtownboy

    Crabtownboy Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2008
    Messages:
    18,441
    Likes Received:
    259
    Faith:
    Baptist
    You did not say if you were in favor of what the city is doing or against it. You simply quoted from the article. That tells us noting about how you feel.

    If you are against what the city is doing, would you also be against sending spies into mosques?
     
  3. Don

    Don Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 7, 2000
    Messages:
    11,048
    Likes Received:
    321
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Depends on the motivation for doing so. In Florida, the city government sent in "spies" because they were offended by a church's message, and were looking for ways to shut them down and thereby shut down their message.

    If we're doing the same thing in mosques, then I'm against it. If we're sending in "spies" because mosques have been known to harbor and encourage terrorism and the killing of non-muslims, then that's a different story.
     
  4. church mouse guy

    church mouse guy Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 23, 2002
    Messages:
    22,050
    Likes Received:
    1,857
    Faith:
    Baptist
    That church is sitting pretty because they government will be sending in their inspectors to listen to the Gospel and they will be born again and become members of the church and find better jobs.
     
Loading...