I know i am seriously agnostic, and I hate evangelists. But that doesn’t mean I am against people being able to worship in places designed exactly for that. For the last few months, this is just a small sampling of what we have been dealing with on a daily basis. From my Auntie Cate:

“My daughter owns an historic church in Avon Park that had been empty for several years. A few months ago the church was rented to a lovely Christina congregation who had lost their store front church due to “zoning” issues. The fit couldn’t have been better. We had an empty church and they needed a new church home.

Very quickly it became apparent that someone in the city did not want to these people to have a place to pray. Since they have taken occupancy we can be assured that at nearly every church gathering there will be a police presence harassing and threatening both the worshippers and my daughter, who is a paraplegic wheelchair user. We’ve had multiple visits from not only the police, but code enforcement. Every time we try to clarify with the city exactly what is needed for the church to legally operate we are told a different story. 

At this point we can only surmise that the city will never allow these people to worship because the worshippers are all latino and my entire family is disabled. It is the most insidious of hate crimes, violating not just civil rights but freedom of religion. The police have told that if church is held tomorrow, they will forcibly break up the meeting. 

I can’t help but think of other Southern churches where brown people worshipped and little girls died. i can only hope that someone in the media will pick up this story and the town will be shamed into doing what is right. “

If any of you are in the area and feel like playing legal observer or know how to get the attention of the MSM (yeah I know) we could sure use the help.