Senate Candidate Joins Church Service in Defiance of Delaware Lockdown

Lauren Witzke, a Republican candidate who is challenging Democrat Chris Coons for his Senate seat, joined Christians at the Glory City Fellowship Church in Delmar, Delaware, on Sunday in defiance of Democrat Gov. John Carney’s lockdown order that deemed places of worship as non-essential in the coronavirus era.

“[Sunday’s] church service at Glory City Fellowship was a successful showing of civil disobedience in response to Delaware’s unconstitutional ban on religious worship,” Witzke told Breitbart News. “Authorities did not try to interfere or stop us from exercising our God-given rights.”

“My campaign urges all Americans who want their freedom back to simply take it,” Witzke said. 

During the service, Pastor Joy Hill said that Christians need to take a stand.

“First and foremost this is a worship service and we have come to worship Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords,” Hill said to the about 50 people who attended the service. “It’s not a political service, however sometimes those two worlds come together.”

“We have to decide in this time that we are living in, what are we going to do?” Hill said. “You’re here because, number one, you don’t like what is happening in the world around you and you’re here to show some support and to say, ‘I am a believer and I’m going to worship God in my country where I have the freedom to do it.’”

“The Witzke campaign, unlike Senator Chris Coons, will not sit idly by while the government deprives Americans of their most basic rights, and we look forward to leading the charge in reopening places of worship and businesses in Delaware and across America,” Witzke told Breitbart News ahead of the service.

Witzke’s campaign said that the church service was not disrupted by authorities and took place and concluded peacefully.

“Many individuals in our communities rely on churches and ministries for economic help, for counseling, and personal interaction that cannot be achieved via live stream services,” Hill told Breitbart News ahead of the service. “I am not willing to continue to be deprived of my rights or allow the double standards that we are experiencing to continue.”

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