Cops shut down a drive-in church service in Mississippi after the local mayor banned all Easter worship amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Police were caught on camera shutting down a drive-in service held by Reverend James Hamilton of the King James Baptist Church in Greenville Thursday, after people flocked to attend the service while social distancing in their cars.

Reverends and religious groups voiced outrage over the incident and blasted the decision to ban church services while liqour stores can keep their doors open.

This comes as a Kentucky judge ruled in favor of a church and lifted a similar ban on drive-in services, blasting the city’s move as ‘unconstitutional’.

Mississippi’s coronavirus lockdown has banned drive-in church services over Easter. Police were caught on camera shutting down a drive-in service held by Reverend James Hamilton of the King James Baptist Church in Greenville Thursday

Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons banned all in-person church services as part of Mississippi’s shelter-in-place order to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Parishioners hoping to gather together for Easter weekend have tried to sidestep the ban by holding drive-in church services where they can maintain social distancing by staying in their cars.

The state’s shelter-in-place order did not specify a ban on drive-in services, but the mayor’s office said in a press release that churches are ‘strongly encouraged to hold services via Facebook Live, Zoom, Free Conference Call, and any and all other social media, streaming and telephonic platforms.’

In an intense video posted on Reverend Hamilton’s Facebook account, officers were seen putting a stop to his service in Greenville on Thursday.

In the footage, police were seen breaking up the service, ordering parishioners to leave or face a $500 fine, Magnolia State Live reported.

‘I’m a good citizen, I ain’t breaking no law. I ain’t selling no drugs. I’m just preaching the word of God. Look at all these police cars here,’ Hamilton is heard exclaiming in the video.

In the intense video posted on Hamilton’s Facebook account, officers were seen putting a stop to the service after Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons banned all in-person church services as part of the state’s shelter-in-place order to slow the spread of coronavirus

A police officer shuts down the service. Parishioners tried to sidestep the ban by holding a drive-in service where they can maintain social distancing by staying in their cars

‘We were abiding by the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines,’ Hamilton told Fox News Friday.

‘Members of the church were inside their cars, had their windows up, and I was preaching the Word of God. So no one was outside, and also we had cars at a distance.’

The pastor and religious groups have slammed what they call discrimination against churches and spoken of their disbelief that liquor stores can remain open as ‘essential’ businesses while churches are shuttered as non-essential businesses.

‘Liquor and beer has killed more people than coronavirus ever would,’ said Hamilton.

He spoke of his disbelief that drive-in church services are being broken up but liquor stores can operate curbside services.

Hamilton (pictured) has spoken of his disbelief that drive-in church services are being broken up but liquor stores can operate curbside services

King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville: ‘I would never dream in a 1,000 years in America… they would ever pass such a law that would consider a liquor store essential but a church non-essential. I am shocked,’ said Hamilton

‘I would never dream in a 1,000 years in America… they would ever pass such a law that would consider a liquor store essential but a church non-essential. I am shocked.’

Kelly Shackelford, president of the First Liberty Institute, branded the move by the city as ‘massively unconstitutional.’

‘It targets churches in a way that it targets no other group,’ he told Fox News.

‘Cars in parking lots are fine. It’s only a crime if the cars in the parking lot are at the church parking lot.’

Shackelford said the shutdown rules ‘discriminate against churches’.

Kelly Shackelford, president of the First Liberty Institute (bottom right) and Hamilton (top right) branded the move by the city as ‘massively unconstitutional’

The Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of the Temple Baptist Church challenging Mayor Simmons’ April 7 executive order.

Churches around the US will miss one of the biggest events in the religious calendar for the first time this year due to nationwide social distancing rules and state lockdowns ordered to help slow the spread of coronavirus.

Easter Sunday was originally touted by President Trump as the deadline for the US to reopen for business and for social distancing rules to be relaxed but with the pandemic continuing to worsen, he has been forced to backpedal on these plans.

‘We’re opening up this incredible country. Because we have to do that. I would love to have it open by Easter,’ Trump said on March 24.

‘I would love to have that. It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’d love to make it an important day for this. I would love to have the country opened up, and rarin’ to go by Easter.’

JUDGE OVERRULES BAN ON KENTUCKY CHURCH DRIVE-IN SERVICES A Kentucky judge has overruled a ban on drive-in church services in Louisville ahead of Easter weekend, citing the move ‘unconstitutional’. On Fire Christian Church filed a suit against Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and the city after Fischer announced that drive-in style religious gatherings were not allowed on Easter because they are not ‘practical or safe’ due to the pandemic. US District Judge Justin Walker ruled in favor of the church on Saturday and said Louisville cannot put a stop to the services. ‘On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter,’ said Walker. ‘That sentence is one that this Court never expected to see outside the pages of a dystopian novel, or perhaps the pages of The Onion.’ Walker added that ‘The Mayor´s decision is stunning. And it is, beyond all reason, unconstitutional.’ He also noted that drive-thru restaurants and liquor stores were still allowed to operate in the area. The ruling came as Republicans blasted Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s statewide plan to order people into quarantine if they attend mass gatherings,saying it unfairly singles out religious services. Under the new action, people seen participating in mass gatherings in Kentucky this weekend will have their license plate numbers recorded by authorities, who will provide the information to local health departments. Health officials will contact each participant and require them to go into quarantine for 14 days. Beshear, a deacon at his church, said the action was needed to protect the public.

He repeated the importance of the date, saying the holiday was a possible deadline because ‘Easter’s a very special day for me.’

‘Wouldn’t it be great to have all the churches full?’ Trump asked. ‘You’ll have packed churches all over our country … I think it’ll be a beautiful time.’

The president was forced to later backtrack as medical experts – including his own advisers – warned him that reopening the country too soon could see more deaths from the virus.

On March 29, in a rare moment of humility, he admitted that reopening for Easter would be a ‘mistake’ and announced a 30-day extension of his coronavirus guidelines.

Trump then toyed with the idea of allowing churches a social distancing exemption to celebrate Easter.

‘And I brought it up before, I said, maybe we could allow special – for churches – maybe we could talk about it, maybe we could allow them for great separation outside on Easter Sunday,’ he said at the White House press briefing last Saturday.

‘But somebody did say that, ‘well, then you’re sort of opening up to that little – do we want to take a chance in doing that when we’ve been doing so well?”

The president then said like many Americans he would watch both Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday services on his laptop.

On his last briefing on Good Friday, Trump said the upcoming decision of when to reopen the country for commerce, travel and ordinary life is among the biggest he has ever faced.

‘I’m going to have to make a decision, and I only hope to God that it’s the right decision,’ Trump said.

‘Without question it’s the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.’

The president is now saying he will rely on scientists and a team of as-yet unannounced advisors as he ponders the decision.

Public health officials have warned that if Americans go back to school and work too soon, the nation could face a second wave of infection and additional economic setbacks.

Donald Trump skips his daily coronavirus update for first time in a month as he reveals he will watch Easter Sunday service by controversial pastor who said Islam ‘promotes pedophilia’ and homosexuality is ‘filthy’

Donald Trump has skipped his daily coronavirus update for the first time in a month as he reveals he will tune in to an Easter Sunday service with a controversial pastor who says Islam ‘promotes pedophilia’ and homosexuality is ‘filthy’.

The president was notable by his absence on Easter Saturday as he failed to hold a coronavirus task force press briefing or any public update on the virus, which has now infected more than 500,000 Americans.

Trump has been addressing the nation on a daily basis, usually from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House, since mid-March as the nation has grappled to bring the pandemic under control.

But on the day that the US became the deadliest nation in the world from coronavirus, as its death toll inched past hard-hit Italy‘s and topped 20,000, and on the eve of the day he had previously vowed the nation would reopen from the pandemic, the president was nowhere to be seen.

The president skipped his daily coronavirus update for the first time in a month on Easter Saturday as he takes an Easter break. Trump has been addressing the nation on a daily basis, usually from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House, since mid-March as the nation has grappled to bring the pandemic under control

Instead, Trump simply tweeted to wish Americans a ‘safe and blessed Easter Sunday’ and to plug controversial pastor and his evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress whose service he said he will be watching remotely.

‘Wishing all a safe and blessed Easter Sunday. I will be tuning into Pastor @robertjeffress at firstdallas.org/liveworship Church in Dallas, Texas tomorrow morning at 10:20 AM Eastern,’ his tweet said.

Trump’s choice of pastor and one of his evangelical advisers has long been a source of concern for some due to the pastor’s extreme right-wing views.

Jeffress, pastor of the 4,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas and a Fox News contributor, has sparked controversy on many occasions for his homophobic and anti-Islam comments.

Back in 2010, Jeffress said Islam ‘promotes pedophilia’.

‘The deep, dark, dirty secret of Islam: It is a religion that promotes pedophilia – sex with children. This so-called prophet Muhammad raped a 9-year-old girl – had sex with her,’ he said.

He seemed to be taking an Easter break and instead tweeted to wish Americans ‘a safe and blessed Easter Sunday’. He also plugged an Easter Sunday service with controversial pastor and his evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress

Jeffress is known for saying Islam ‘promotes pedophilia’ and is an ‘evil religion’. He has called homosexuality ‘filthy’ in the past and claimed Barack Obama was ‘paving the way’ for the Antichrist

A few weeks later, he stood by his comments and even rallied Christians and conservatives to stand up to ‘this evil, evil religion’.

The pastor is also known for his discriminatory comments towards the LGBT community, having branded homosexuality ‘filthy’ and ‘degrading’.

‘What they [homosexuals] do is filthy. It is so degrading that it is beyond description. And it is their filthy behavior that explains why they are so much more prone to disease,’ he said.

The controversy doesn’t end there, after he has made no secret of his Republican views and even used his faith to promote his political support of Trump.

Former President Barack Obama was ‘paving the way’ for the Antichrist’, according to Jeffress in 2012.

Trump with First Lady Melania Trump (right) and daughter Tiffany Trump (left) arrive for Easter service at the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach on Easter Sunday 2018

Trump, accompanied by a person dressed as the Easter Bunny, at the 141st Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in 2019

By contrast, he agreed that Trump has been chosen by God to run America.

Citing the New Testament, Jeffress claimed in August 2017 that, ‘In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un.’

Even when reports of Trump’s unholy past reared its head when it emerged in 2018 that hush money was paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, Jeffress brushed it off saying voters ‘knew they weren’t voting for an altar boy’ when they appointed him as their president.

As he watches the pastor’s service remotely, it will mark the first time since Trump entered the White House that he has remained in Washington DC for the Easter weekend.

Over the last three years, the president and his family have traveled to Mar-a-Lago in Florida and enjoyed spending the holidays with a brunch on the lawn of his Palm Beach estate and attending a service at Bethesda-by-the-Sea, an Episcopal church where Trump and First Lady Melania married in 2005.

The annual White House Easter Egg Roll, one of the oldest White House traditions, has also been cancelled.

The event has only ever been canceled on two other occasions since 1878 – during World War I and World War II.