Marshall wants churches excluded from health order

Marshall wants churches excluded from health order

Alabama's top law enforcement officer says he does not think the state's coronavirus safer at home order should be enforced against churches and places of worship... in fact, he wants to see the order changed before it expires next week.

Take a look at your screen.... this is a statement from the attorney general steve marshall's office saying quote "the attorney general agrees that enforcement of the order against churches would be ill-advised.

He has been assured that the state health order will soon be amended to better accommodate the free exercise of religion."

Waay31's steven dilsizian heard from law enforcement and churches about this latest development and how it may impact their behavior.

Right now the state order prevents groups of 10 or more gathering where they can't keep a six foot distance... that includes everthing from churches to stores to public parks.

Many law enforcement agencies throughout north alabama i spoke with said they aren't looking to set up patrols at churches in their communities aaron burgess - falkville police chief "i do agree with what the attorney general has said, we're not trying to go out and do some strict enforcement.

Now if someone needs us, we are going to be there for them but we have no doubt that the churches are going to do what is asked of them" aaron burgess is the falkville police chief... his team has no plans of enforcing or punishing churches when it comes to the state safer at home order, unless there is an unforeseen situation.

Attorney general steve marshall says it would be quote "ill-advised" for law enforcement to push the health order on churches.

Burgess says they are trusting churches to do the right thing.

Take sot: aaron burgess - falkville police chief "they understand that with us being a smaller agency and the limited resources, that we want to focus on priorities when it comes to being able to give the best service we can to the public" law enforcement in north alabama say if there is a complaint, they will respond, but the reactions may be different.

Take graphic: huntsville police, the madison county sheriff's office, and decatur police say they will focus on educating people about social distancing first.

Any sort of enforcement would be the last thing they want to do.

The marshall county sheriff's office and falkville police will not be actively patrolling churches and have no intentions of enforcement.... athens police and the morgan county sheriff's office wouldn't go into detail about their response.

Morgan county has made zero arrests and given zero citations.

I'm still waiting to hear from other north alabama departments.

Regardless of all this, a pastor at the first seventh day adventist church says they are following all orders.

Take sot: debleaire snell - pastor "in light of those comments, our goal is safety first.

So i think there are a number of different methods by which we can put the gospel out to our people, we've figured out creative ways to stay connected" snell and his church have been providing their services online.

It'll stay that way, to make sure people are safe and healthy.

Take sot: debleaire snell - pastor "we want to make sure that we do our part, we feel a sense of responsibility not just to come back together but to do our part to help blunt this spread, blunt the curve and to kind of make sure we get to a place where if possible, we can put this in our rear-view mirror" the attorney general's office mentioned they've been assured the state health order will be amended, but its unclear when, or how.

The current order is set to expire on may 15th live in hsv -- sd -- waay31 news.

Waay 31 reached out to the governor's office for comment.

In a statement - the govenor's office said the governor and her team have been in close discussion with the attorney general's office to ensure all public orders are upheld - and that lives are protected during this