Alabama House passes bill to criminalize disruptions of worship services
A bill that would criminalize the disruption of religious services has passed the Alabama House of Representatives.
The bill makes intentional disruptions of a church worship service through rioting, disorderly conduct or harassment a Class C felony.
If convicted, a person could serve up to ten years behind bars.
“I think people want to make sure our places of worship, which covers all of them, are safe, and we don’t want intrusion, riot issues when any time you have children, you have elderly women, etc.,” State Rep. Gregory Barnes (R-Jasper) told Action 8 News.
“You know, there’s always an opportunity for something bad to happen. We want to prevent that. This is a preemptive measure. We want to make sure that people are put on notice, they know that if they do this, there’s a high probability there’s something bad for them could be the result,” Barnes said.
The bill covers not only churches, but also synagogues, mosques and other religious buildings.
The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration. If fully passed and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, it’ll take effect October 1.
