Pastor Hamilton/Cop
© Daily MailPastor Charles Hamilton • Cop issues $500 tickets
A pastor who contested Greenville, Mississippi, Mayor Errick Simmons's ban against drive-in religious services said his rights don't come from the government during a verbal altercation with local police.

Charles Hamilton was administering drive-in service as a pastor at the King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville on Thursday night before a squad of police cars circled the church and threatened to fine anyone who refused to leave after local officials banned public congregations in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Hamilton said in a video livestreamed on social media:
"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, and look at all these police cars here. This is America, private property of a church. Look at this, y'all, there's more police pulling up."
One police officer told Hamilton that "by order of the governor, your rights are suspended." Hamilton responded:
"Our rights don't come from authority. It comes from the Bible. So, the authority does not have right over the Constitution. We talking the constitution of law, the First and Second Amendment, the U.S. Constitution that was given to us by our forefathers. ... Mayor Errick Simmons can't take it away, nor the police officer."
Police officers explained to Hamilton they would issue warnings to members who attend the service, but they would let them leave without issuing citations. Members of a neighboring church in Greenville say they were issued $500 fines for attending a similar drive-in service.

"The police started coming up, and we said, 'We think we're within our rights.' So, they started issuing tickets 500 dollars tickets," said Lee Gordon of Temple Baptist Church. "I don't know, it may have been 20 to 30 tickets. Everybody got one. It wasn't per car. Me and my wife was in a car together, and both of us got tickets."

State and local policies that have ordered churches to abandon in-person events have caused a major rift among some in the religious community who believe they have a right to continue administering services. On March 31, a Louisiana pastor named Tony Bell was arrested for holding services in spite of orders from the government to cease holding services.