Embattled Tampa Pastor Says Church Received Bomb Threat

TAMPA, FL — The embattled pastor of a Tampa megachurch who was arrested last month after inviting his followers to attend packed religious services, said his church received a bomb threat over the Easter holiday weekend.

Speaking during an online sermon broadcast Easter Sunday night, the Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne said he kept The River at Tampa Bay Church closed over the weekend despite being permitted to open under Gov. Ron DeSantis' emergency stay-at-home order.

"We can open. We're clear to open," Howard-Browne told his followers. "All those blockages have been removed. The sheriff's department even put out signs that said, 'remember social distancing' and whatever, but we weren't there. We went online."

The pastor said eight sheriff's deputies responded to Saturday's bomb threat along with bomb-sniffing dogs.

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"We had to clear the property to make sure that everything was OK," he said. "All this has been stirred up by the lies about the false arrest that took place. I mean, I was arrested, but under false pretenses."

The pastor praised an announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice over the weekend that said Attorney General William Barr was monitoring government regulation aimed at religious services amid the coronavirus outbreak.

"While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly and not single out religious organizations," a spokeswoman for the agency explained on social media. "Expect action from DOJ next week."

Howard-Browne blamed the news media for what he characterized as "fake news" and local government officials for overstepping their authority.

"I know what the law is. The law is the supreme law of the land which is the Constitution," he said. "You cannot have a local government issue orders that supersedes the Constitution. They can't do it about the First Amendment. They can't do it about the Second Amendment. It's impossible. They can't come and take away your right to free speech or the right for the peaceable assembly or for the church to gather. It's impossible."

Howard-Browne insists that he was obeying the law when he invited his more than 4,000 congregation members to join him in two services at the church back in March.

"All those weeks ago I said this was an attack on the Gospel. Everybody said 'no it's not. It's about a coronavirus.' No it is not," he countered. "It's about the Gospel and shutting down the church. We're seeing that take place right now. China is now banning online church."

Howard-Browne was charged with unlawful assembly and violating public health emergency rules of isolation and quarantine. The two charges against Howard-Browne are second-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum penalty of two months in jail and a $500 fine.

After news of his arrest made national headlines, the conservative nonprofit litigation group The Liberty Counsel announced it would represent Howard-Browne, who pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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Howard-Browne maintains the church enforced the 6-foot distance between family groups in the auditorium and overflow rooms; handed out hand sanitizer to every person who entered the church; had staff wear gloves; marked off 6-foot distances on the floor with tape to keep members from violating the social distancing guidelines; told anyone experiencing symptoms or with underlying health problems to remain at home; and spent $100,000 on a hospital-grade purification system set up throughout the church that provides infectious microbial reduction rated to kill microbes, including those in the coronavirus family.

The pastor said he made the right call to keep the church open at the time of his arrest and to close it over Easter weekend.

"I made the right call to keep the church open and I made the right call to shut the church because of a tyrannical government when they painted us that we were a church that had caches of weapons," Howard-Browne said. "We don't have any weapons stashed at the church. We don't have any stash of ammunition. Our church is not a gun-free zone. In Florida, you have a concealed weapons permit. We have a warning sign on the church: Welcome to The River At Tampa Bay Church. This is not a gun-free zone."

He said he doesn't want to reopen the church until he can assure the safety of his congregation.

"What am I going to do: Open the church until I can secure the congregation," he asked. "You have to be smoking crack. I'm not doing it. I'll open it when I'm ready."