Christians were arrested in Moscow, Idaho this week for singing hymns outside their local city hall without wearing masks to protest an extension of the city’s mask order.
Christians Arrested For Holding “Psalm Sing” Mask Protest In Idaho
On Wednesday, Moscow’s Christ Church took to Facebook to announce that a “Psalm Sing” would be held that afternoon outside city hall.
https://www.facebook.com/ChristKirk/posts/3348880278488562
CrossPolitic Studios also promoted the Psalm Sing on Facebook:
PSALM SING IN MOSCOW: A number of people are gathering at city hall this afternoon at 4:45 for what we are calling a “flash psalm sing.” We will sing three songs and the doxology, and then out. We are asking folks to please not wear a mask. We hope to do the same thing next Wednesday as well. This event was organized by Christ Church, but everyone is welcome.
This was in response to the city council extending the mask order until January despite the fact that there have been no hospitalizations or deaths due to COVID-19 in Latah County.
Douglas Wilson, the pastor at Christ Church, took to Blog and Mablog after the event to write about what happened.
“This was not an assembly of scofflaws,” he wrote. “It really was a peaceful protest, a petition to our city government for a redress of grievances, and a religious assembly, all in one. Everything about it was proper. We sang three songs and the doxology, and then went home.”
Related: Video: Ohio Woman Without Mask Tased And Arrested At Middle School Football Game
Police Start Making Arrests During First Hymn
Over 150 people attended the event outside city hall to sing hymns without masks on.
Just 15 minutes into the gathering, while the group was still singing the first song, police arrived to arrest them.
You can watch as officers begin to handcuff these Christians who are peacefully singing outside the Idaho city hall in the video below.
https://www.facebook.com/164977930677181/videos/629837694276332/
Latah County commission candidate and host of the CrossPolitic show Gabriel Rench was one of the people who was arrested as the group sang, “Some always trust in chariots, others trust in horses, but we recall our Lord and God,” in Psalm 20.
Conservative pundit Michelle Malkin pointed out that while “throwing Molotov cocktails at police” in Portland won’t get you arrested, singing hymns outside without a mask in Idaho will.
Throwing Molotov cocktails at police in the Pacific Northwest won't get you arrested.
But singing psalms without a mask in Moscow, Idaho, WILL get you hauled off to jail in handcuffs.#anarchotyranny https://t.co/Ct1cKlo33v
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) September 24, 2020
5 Christians Arrested For Singing Outside Idaho City Hall Without Masks
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported that CrossPolitic Host Gabrial Rench was one of five people who was arrested for violating the mask order.
Two people were hit with charges for resisting or obstructing an officer. Rench was arrested but not charged for refusing to identify himself to officers.
“So our church today went to city hall—I wouldn’t say just our church—a bunch of people in our community went to city hall and went to sing psalms in the parking lot at city hall,” Rench said afterwards. “So we’re singing psalms, we had just kicked off the first psalm, I’m standing there with my mom right next to me and we’re kind of the closest to the police. And Pastor (Douglas) Wilson warned us, ‘If you guys don’t social distance you’re probably going to get a ticket.’”
“And so everyone kind of got a little closer, the crowd kind of scooted closer to one another, and so we started singing psalms and the cops just walked up to me and my mom first, because we’re kind of the closest to them,” he added. “They weren’t singling anybody out. And they asked if we were together and my mom grabbed my arm and said, ‘We’re family.’ And then I grabbed my buddy Tyler and said to the cops, ‘we’re not.’ After that, the cop came to talk to me and he said, ‘Give me your license I’m probably going to write you a ticket.’”
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CrossPolitic Host Gabriel Rench Arrested In Idaho
Rench told the officer that he did not need to do this, which eventually led to his arrest.
He also said that police knew about the protest ahead of time and prepared for it by painting social-distancing circles on the parking lot “so they could say, ‘Look, you aren’t social distancing, I have the evidence to write you a fine.’”
You can watch the arrest of CrossPolitic host Gabriel Rench in the video below.
https://www.facebook.com/164977930677181/videos/393752888285082/
Pastor Wilson Stands By The Idaho Mask Protest
Pastor Wilson defended the protest on social media.
“We have every right to protest the high hypocrisy involved in all of this. Not only so, but I believe we have a responsibility to do so,” he wrote, adding that the protest was not conducted “Portland style.”
“The federal building is just a block away from city hall, and I can say that I was very proud of our people — not one of them tried to burn it down,” said Wilson. “Rather, we addressed this hypocritical and nonsensical law in a peaceful, orderly, law-abiding, and responsible way.”
If just ten percent of the churches in cities with draconian ordinances gathered to sing Psalms outside their respective city halls, the mask hall monitors would be jobless in 45 minutes.
Good job, @GMRench.
Good job, @Christ_Kirk.Sing Psalm 2 for me while you’re out there.
— Brian Sauvé (@Brian_Sauve) September 24, 2020
This comes after months of mask orders all over the country in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
This just goes to show that Americans have had enough of being told what to do, and have no interest in blindly following mask orders anymore.
It should also be noted that this protest was peaceful, unlike the numerous violent Black Lives Matter protests that have been happening all over the nation over the past few months.
We applaud these Christians for showing the world what a “peaceful protest” really looks like.