Seattle Cites COVID Policy for Preventing Prayer Meeting, Still Allows Massive Protests
At this point, it appears Seattle’s leftist leadership is no longer trying to hide its disdain for Christians.
A prayer rally at the city’s famed Gas Works Park was planned for Labor Day, but before it could be held, a sudden notice from the city declared the park would be closed.
A Sept. 4 notice posted by the city announced a “temporary closure” of the park, citing “anticipated crowding that could impact the public health of residents.”
“Out of concerns for the safety of all those who visit Gas Works Park we have opted to close the entire park for the day,” Seattle Parks and Recreation noted.
The same city that has allowed leftists to protest and riot for months announced it suddenly “does not allow unpermitted public events to take place in Seattle parks.”
To further rub salt in the wound of the law-abiding faithful in the city, Seattle Parks and Recreation asked the public to “continue to adhere to current public health guidelines so that we can keep our parks open.”
“As first amendment gatherings have taken place during the pandemic, the City of Seattle continues to reinforce the Governor’s guidelines should folks choose to attend an event: stay home if sick, wear your mask, and keep at least six feet of space between yourself and others,” the city said before closing off the park with barricades.
Of course, the public health guidelines are not being applied evenly, nor is the handling of First Amendment gatherings — at least that’s the message conveyed by the city.
On Saturday and Sunday, rallies were held in parks across the city, including a “Trump/Pence Out Now” march from Westlake Park and a rally at Cal Anderson Park to “protest the reprehensible treatment of Seattle’s most marginalized communities by the Seattle Police Department.”
Rallies backing the Black Lives Matter movement also took to the streets and parks to protest on Monday, according to The Seattle Times.
In June, riots, looting, mass gatherings of leftists and even homicides occurred inside of the portion of the city’s so-called autonomous zone, a place known as CHAZ and later CHOP, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
The neighborhood and a police precinct were occupied by militant leftists for a month as Seattle Democrats sat idly by.
But a prayer rally in an open-air park on Labor Day? Apparently such a gathering might have overloaded the hospitals.
KING-TV reported that Sean Feucht, a Christian musician and missionary who planned to host the rally, called out the city for the apparent double standard being applied to Christians.
“The City of Seattle acknowledged that parks ‘provide critical physical and mental health supports to our community,’ and reiterated their policy guidelines for facilitating ‘first amendment gatherings.’ but still chose to temporarily shut down the entire park rather than risk Christians gathering for an open-air worship service,” Feucht said, according to KING-TV.
Seattle’s leaders did not explicitly state that the park was closed in order to deny Christians their constitutional rights, but the graffiti was on the wall: Seattle is a haven for leftists and those who sympathize with them.
Christians, meanwhile, are to be treated as second-class citizens.
Mayor Jenny Durkan infamously predicated that the armed takeover of a neighborhood by leftists amid a global pandemic could have led to a “summer of love.”
It turned out to be a violent nightmare, yet it took weeks of violence and two deaths before Durkan finally intervened.
But at Gas Works Park on Monday, there was supposed to be an event planned out of love, and the city apparently took measures to ensure the prayer rally did not occur.
Feucht fought back, though, and in a tremendous fashion.
He planned another event, and labeled it a “Worship Protest.”
The event attracted thousands of people, who enjoyed fellowship and music in the middle of a crowded Seattle street Monday evening.
Early Tuesday, the Christian musician wrote on Facebook, “LOL. And Seattle governmental leaders tried to silence the church by barricading a park.”
“They grossly underestimated the fire and determination of the body. Tonight was a moment we will never forget. We’ll tell our children’s children that we took a stand. The church gathered next to a bulldozer and thousands showed up. We can’t go back from her,” he concluded.
Feucht showed off a big smile on Fox News Tuesday, celebrating a successful Christian protest which defied the city’s apparent targeting of Christians.
“Last night it was pretty easy, we just pivoted and called it a worship protest, so now technically it’s legal, and we went to the streets,” Feucht told Fox & Friends.
The game is up for Seattle Democrats.
Their selective enforcement of arbitrary COVID policies have become a weapon for religious discrimination.
If protesters are going to be given preferential treatment over Christians and other law-abiding citizens, then Christians must become demonstrators.
Monday, that’s exactly what they were.
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