Senate Advances Gollihare Bill to Combat Disruption of Worship Services

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Senate advanced Senate Bill 743, legislation authored by Sen. Todd Gollihare to strengthen and clarify protections for religious worship services in response to coordinated activist disruptions targeting congregations.

Senate Bill 743 updates existing statute related to the willful disruption of assemblies met for religious worship, clarifies enforcement provisions, and strengthens penalties for repeated violations. The measure is narrowly focused on conduct, not viewpoints, and is intended to address organized interference designed to provoke confrontation within worship services.

The bill affirms constitutional protections for free speech, protest, and lawful assembly, while establishing clear parameters to protect congregants during worship services. Under the legislation, protesters within 100 feet of a place of worship must maintain at least eight feet of distance from individuals entering or exiting, unless consent to approach is given.

"Oklahomans should never have to choose between exercising their faith and feeling safe while doing so," Gollihare said. "Yet that is exactly what happens when worship services are deliberately targeted and turned into political battlegrounds."

Gollihare said recent incidents reflect a growing national pattern in which activists use intermediaries to carry out harassment inside places of worship while those orchestrating the activity attempt to avoid accountability.

Senate Bill 743 passed the Senate 31-15 with an emergency clause and now heads to the governor's desk for signature.

###