{"id":2577451,"date":"2026-03-08T14:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alabama-takes-key-step-to-prevent-st-paul-style-church-disruptions\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T14:42:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T18:42:27","slug":"alabama-takes-key-step-to-prevent-st-paul-style-church-disruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alabama-takes-key-step-to-prevent-st-paul-style-church-disruptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Takes Key Step to Prevent St. Paul-Style Church Disruptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Falabama-takes-key-step-to-prevent-st-paul-style-church-disruptions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2577451&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Alabama House Republicans advanced House Bill 363, a measure to deter disruptions of church services by imposing heavy penalties, including up to 10 years in prison and fines of at least $15,000. The bill would classify entering a church with the intent to disrupt a worship service, or obstructing the ingress or egress to church property, as disruption of a worship service-a felony under the bill. It passed the Alabama House 75 to 27 and now proceeds to the Senate. Supporters say the bill protects religious spaces broadly, including churches, mosques, and synagogues, as well as other religious property, by addressing disruptive conduct during worship. Critics, including some Democrats, argued it could infringe on free speech and religious rights; one Democrat warned that under the bill even Jesus could be imprisoned for disrupting a worship service. The measure follows a recent disruption at a church service in Minnesota and was framed by supporters as a narrowly tailored protection for religious gatherings.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Alabama House Republicans advanced a new measure meant to deter church disruptions with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/3-more-jan-6-defendants-ask-supreme-court-to-review-widely-charged-obstruction-felony\/\" title=\"3 Jan. 6 Defendants Seek Supreme Court Review of Obstruction Felony Charges\">substantial prison sentences<\/a> and fines.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation, filed as <a href=\"https:\/\/alison.legislature.state.al.us\/files\/pdf\/SearchableInstruments\/2026RS\/HB363-int.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Bill 363<\/a>, comes weeks after left-wing activists invaded a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, over one of the pastors&rsquo; work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>House Bill 363 would charge those who similarly interrupt religious services in Alabama with up to 10 years in prison and fines of $15,000 or more, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/alabamareflector.com\/2026\/02\/25\/alabama-house-of-representatives-passes-bill-that-makes-it-a-felony-to-disrupt-church-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> from the Alabama Reflector.<\/p>\n<p>It passed in the Alabama House on Tuesday with a vote of 75 to 27.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This bill would provide that if an individual enters upon the premises of a church building to intentionally disrupt a worship service by engaging in a riot, unlawful protest, or disorderly conduct, or otherwise engages in the harassment of any other individual in the worship service, the individual would be guilty of the offense of disruption of a worship service,&rdquo; the legislation said.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); 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\t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This bill would also provide that if an individual enters upon church property contiguous to where a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/christ-or-chaos-former-pastor-of-invaded-minneapolis-church-has-a-message-for-america\/\" title=\"&#039;Christ or Chaos&#039;: Former Pastor of Invaded Minneapolis ... Has a Message for America\">church worship service<\/a> is being held with the intent on obstructing the ingress or egress to the property, and obstructs the ingress or egress to the property, the individual would also be guilty of the offense,&rdquo; it added.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">House Bill 363, which was introduced last month in Alabama, would make it a felony if a person &ldquo;knowingly&rdquo; enters a &ldquo;church building with the intent to disrupt the worship service.&rdquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GQyq70Ufr4\">https:\/\/t.co\/GQyq70Ufr4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Washington Stand (@WSHStand) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WSHStand\/status\/2024168432376131773?\">February 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Alabama State Rep. Greg Barnes, a Republican, defended the bill on the House floor, saying that it &ldquo;is a religious protection bill that protects all religions, not just churches, synagogues.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s a very narrowly tailored, narrowly scoped bill,&rdquo; he said, per the Alabama Reflector.<\/p>\n<p>But some members of the House Democratic minority contested the bill on the floor.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think the absolute worst place that you could take away a person&rsquo;s right to disagree is in the church. I don&rsquo;t understand how you say that,&rdquo; Alabama Democratic State Rep. Sam Jones said in reaction to the bill.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It seems to me that we think that criminalizing acts change behavior. It doesn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Alabama State Rep. Chris England, another Democrat, even claimed that Jesus Himself would face prison time under the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Under this particular piece of legislation, when Jesus went out there and flipped over some tables, he would have been a Class C felon,&rdquo; he argued.<\/p>\n<p>The bill protects any &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >bona fide duly constituted religious society<\/a> or ecclesiastical body of any sect, order, or denomination,&rdquo; such as churches, mosques, and synagogues, as well as &ldquo;other religious real property.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>It will now be considered by the Alabama Senate.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a paraphrased summary of the article:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Alabama Republicans advanced a new bill, HB 363, intended to deter disruptions of church services with stiff penalties, following a recent disruption at a church service in Minnesota over a pastor\u2019s collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The bill would make it a disruption of worship offense for anyone who intentionally disrupts a worship service inside a church by rioting, protesting unlawfully, causing disorder, or harassing others, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines of at least $15,000.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; It also would criminalize entering church property adjacent to a service with the intent to obstruct access or egress.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The measure defines knowingly entering a church building with the intent to disrupt the worship service as a felony. It would protect bona fide religious bodies and related properties, including churches, mosques, and synagogues, as well as other religious real estate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; HB 363 passed the Alabama House 75-27 and moves to the Senate. Supporters, including Republican Rep. Greg Barnes, described it as a narrowly tailored religious-protection bill; opponents in the Democratic minority argued it would infringe on free speech and dissent, with one representative quipping that Jesus would be a felon under the bill.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The article notes the bill\u2019s broader intention to safeguard religious services, with the next step being consideration by the Alabama Senate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2577452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Michael-Featured-Image-767.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[50871,75370,4762,3970,49973],"class_list":["post-2577451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-alabama-2","tag-churchdisruptions","tag-legislation","tag-protests","tag-publicsafety"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Michael-Featured-Image-767.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577451"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2577455,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577451\/revisions\/2577455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2577452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}