Suit was filed on Thursday in a Tennessee federal district court challenging Chattanooga, Tennessee's COVID-19 ban on drive-in church services. The complaint (
full text) in
Metropolitan Tabernacle Church v. City of Chattanooga, (ED TN, filed 4/16/2020), alleges in part:
[A]ccording to the City, you can buy a hamburger and sit in your car at a drive-in restaurant, or sit in the parking lot of a retail establishment with hundreds of other vehicles with your windows rolled down, but you can’t sit in your car at a drive-in church service with your windows rolled up....
Plaintiffs sincerely believe that the Bible teaches the necessity of gathering together for corporate prayer and worship and that such assembly is necessary and good for the Church and its members’ spiritual growth....
The City’s drive-in church ban targets, discriminates against, and shows hostility towards churches, including Plaintiffs.
ADF issued a
press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
