Alabama Takes Key Step to Prevent St. Paul-Style Church Disruptions
Alabama House Republicans advanced a new measure meant to deter church disruptions with substantial prison sentences and fines.
The legislation, filed as House Bill 363, comes weeks after left-wing activists invaded a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, over one of the pastors’ work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
House Bill 363 would charge those who similarly interrupt religious services in Alabama with up to 10 years in prison and fines of $15,000 or more, according to a report from the Alabama Reflector.
It passed in the Alabama House on Tuesday with a vote of 75 to 27.
“This bill would provide that if an individual enters upon the premises of a church building to intentionally disrupt a worship service by engaging in a riot, unlawful protest, or disorderly conduct, or otherwise engages in the harassment of any other individual in the worship service, the individual would be guilty of the offense of disruption of a worship service,” the legislation said.
“This bill would also provide that if an individual enters upon church property contiguous to where a church worship service is being held with the intent on obstructing the ingress or egress to the property, and obstructs the ingress or egress to the property, the individual would also be guilty of the offense,” it added.
House Bill 363, which was introduced last month in Alabama, would make it a felony if a person “knowingly” enters a “church building with the intent to disrupt the worship service.”https://t.co/GQyq70Ufr4
— The Washington Stand (@WSHStand) February 18, 2026
Alabama State Rep. Greg Barnes, a Republican, defended the bill on the House floor, saying that it “is a religious protection bill that protects all religions, not just churches, synagogues.”
“And that’s a very narrowly tailored, narrowly scoped bill,” he said, per the Alabama Reflector.
But some members of the House Democratic minority contested the bill on the floor.
“I think the absolute worst place that you could take away a person’s right to disagree is in the church. I don’t understand how you say that,” Alabama Democratic State Rep. Sam Jones said in reaction to the bill.
“It seems to me that we think that criminalizing acts change behavior. It doesn’t.”
Alabama State Rep. Chris England, another Democrat, even claimed that Jesus Himself would face prison time under the legislation.
“Under this particular piece of legislation, when Jesus went out there and flipped over some tables, he would have been a Class C felon,” he argued.
The bill protects any “bona fide duly constituted religious society or ecclesiastical body of any sect, order, or denomination,” such as churches, mosques, and synagogues, as well as “other religious real property.”
It will now be considered by the Alabama Senate.
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