Pastor Arrested in Pennsylvania While Praying for AG Kathleen Kane
A Pennsylvania pastor was arrested while praying for State Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who supports same-sex marriage.
Pastor Bill Devlin, co-chair of Right to Worship, was arrested in Harrisburg Friday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“This is the first of many arrests,” Devlin told The Inquirer in a phone interview after his arrest. “We’re going to have many pastors out here.”
On Thursday Kane said she could not ethically defend Pennsylvania against a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
“She swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which includes supporting laws she may personally disagree with,” said Devlin Thursday night. “How dare she not stand up for the citizens of the Commonwealth who in a representative, democratic fashion have said we believe marriage is between a man and a woman?”
Holly Lubart, a spokesperson for the Department of General Services, which oversees the Pennsylvania Capitol Police, confirmed the pastor was arrested, according to the Inquirer. Lubart said Devlin failed to sign in at the building’s entrance and went past a capitol officer before getting on the elevator.
The Inquirer reports Devlin told security officers at the ground floor of the Strawberry Square building, which houses the attorney general’s office, that he was there to pray for Kane. He asked them to schedule an appointment with her and said he represented clergy across the state.
A representative from Kane’s office came to meet Devlin and told him he could not see Kane.
“I said, ‘I’m here to pray. I know you’re not going to give me permission, but I’m going to pray in front of the elevator.’”
Devlin said the elevator doors opened as he knelt on the floor, and he crawled in. Police officers stopped the doors from closing and arrested him.
Devlin was cited for disorderly conduct.
The pastor later sent out a statement, The Inquirer reports, saying, “Pray for [Kane], as I am, that she will have a change of heart and that God would melt her heart and she would say that marriage is between a man and a woman.”
