CA committee rejects bill to protect religious worship

(The Center Square) – A bill that would have made disrupting religious services a felony failed in a California Senate committee Tuesday after Democratic lawmakers voiced concerns about freedom of speech. The bill in question, Senate Bill 1070, would have elevated protesting or otherwise disturbing worship services at churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship to a felony. Disrupting worship is currently a misdemeanor under California law. “These contentious times in our houses of worship, from church, synagogues, mosques, temples and every type of faith community have often become targets,” Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield and author of the bill, said at a press conference Tuesday about SB 1070. “Protesters block entrances, use vulgar slogans, yell through bullhorns, infiltrate services, shout obscenities and turn sacred places of worship into intimidation and chaos.” SB 1070 would make disturbing a worship service punish