A wave of new state legislation is targeting demonstrators who interrupt religious services, with lawmakers citing recent anti-ICE protests as the catalyst for tougher criminal penalties.
According to Fox News, Republican lawmakers in several states are advancing measures that would elevate disruptions at churches and other places of worship from misdemeanors to felony offenses, arguing the steps are necessary to protect religious freedom.
In Ohio, GOP Reps. Tex Fischer and Johnathan Newman introduced HB 662, which would upgrade interfering with a religious service to a fifth-degree felony. Fischer said the proposal was prompted by unrest in Minnesota and stressed that while protest is protected, storming a church is not.
“While every American has the right to peacefully protest ICE or any other government entity, they do not have a right to storm into a place of worship and disrupt another American’s right to freely practice their religion,” Fischer said.
He added, “We cannot allow our country to be a place where families fear they may face harassment or see their religious services disrupted by activists attempting to score political points while attending church on a Sunday morning.”
Other states are moving in a similar direction.
In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Republican-backed bill that increases penalties for disrupting worship and establishes a buffer zone around congregants.
Alabama lawmakers are weighing legislation that would make entering a church with the intent to disrupt a Class C felony, carrying a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison for first-time offenders.
Idaho has proposed adding churches to its disturbing-the-peace statute, which currently covers neighborhoods and individuals and is punishable as a misdemeanor.
South Dakota lawmakers considered two separate proposals. One effort to create a 50-foot protest perimeter and time restrictions around services stalled over First Amendment concerns.
A second bill from Gov. Larry Rhoden would instead reclassify disruptions as a felony punishable by up to two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
The legislative push follows a demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where activists entered the sanctuary chanting “ICE out.”
Federal prosecutors later brought criminal charges against nine people in connection with the incident, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon and another journalist.
Those defendants were indicted on allegations of conspiring to violate constitutional rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a federal law that prohibits intimidation or obstruction aimed at preventing people from exercising their religious freedom at places of worship and certain healthcare facilities.
Republicans and pro-life advocates have long argued that the law was enforced primarily in cases involving protests outside reproductive healthcare sites rather than churches.
Early in his second term, President Donald Trump issued pardons to 23 people convicted under the FACE Act.
The Justice Department has not released a comprehensive tally of all prosecutions under the statute since its passage more than three decades ago.
