Pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth's event got the OK from a judge. Locals say his church could literally hurt the community.

Jun 30, 2024

Today marks the start of a week-long event hosted by Revival Today Church in Moon Township, Pennsylvania:

(Follow above article link to view original article with photos/PDFs.)

It’s meant to be the first of many events on a piece of property that Pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth bought about two months ago. When he publicly announced the sale, he bragged that he had “acquired a 12-15 MILLION DOLLAR, 35 ACRE PROPERTY… It’s a miracle I’ve never heard of before. Enough space for a 12,000 seat church with 6,000 parking spaces… Built by billionaires for billionaires.”

Buying property isn’t a miracle if you can afford it. It’s also unclear where the “billionaires” part is coming from since this used to be the Baywood Conference and Lodging Center, a fairly typical place to host large events for attendees who are almost certainly not that rich. (The land was once owned by the pharmaceutical company Bayer. They have plenty of money but they’re not throwing parties for billionaires.) And the “12-15 MILLION DOLLAR” estimate appears to be a lie given that realtor.com says this property was just sold for under $4.5 million.

But okay. The church has new property and they’re trying to open with a bang. Nothing particular special about that.

There’s one big problem, though: People in the community say the church bypassed local ordinances and ignored construction codes in order to launch quickly. That won’t just cause chaos in the area; it could put the people inside in danger.

"The traffic on Coraopolis Road will not support an extra 200 to 500 cars, let alone what their event and their weekly traffic is going to begin," Moon Township resident Cora DeLoia.

"It's a two-lane highway and we can't even image [bringing] that kind of traffic to that road," DeLoia said.

…

"One of our big problems is first of all, they're putting up this massive structure and there's no permits," said DeLoia.

It’s not just one citizen saying this. The city just went to court to prevent the church from hosting its event, not because they’re anti-Christian but because they need to protect their community from having its infrastructure destroyed by religious zealots who don’t care about them. All they’re asking for is for Shuttlesworth to follow the rules, fill out the necessary paperwork, and get the requisite permits before opening up:

The board of supervisors voted to give the solicitor the power to take whatever action necessary to enforce its ordinances at the property on Coraopolis Heights Road and another on Patton Drive that the church wants to use as a place of worship.

“We’re not necessarily trying to stop the church,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman David Bachman. “What we’re upset, what is a problem for us is they’re not doing it by applying for any of the ordinances and following the regulations of the township.”

Township leaders said it’ll be impossible for the church to get all the permits it needs before the event at the end of the month. 

Unfortunately, that injunction appears to have failed. Shuttlesworth gloated about his court victory on Friday with his typical brand of asshole-ishness:

It’s unclear why the judge dismissed the case, or why Shuttlesworth didn’t have to present a defense, or if any of that is even accurate. But just to make sure everyone knows who they’re dealing with, Shuttlesworth responded to his own victory announcement with two words:

Nothing says petty and weak like a man who can’t offer praise without putting others down. That’s what he’s doing with his new property now, boosting his new church by trashing others in the community who are simply looking out for each other.

And that’s just where the self-righteousness begins. Shuttlesworth has a long history of being a dick.

For example, in his ministry’s online store, he sells a shirt urging the repeal of the 19th Amendment… which gave women the right to vote.

He’s also, predictably, a huge supporter of Donald Trump. In 2019, Shuttlesworth said he would vote for Trump no matter what because at least Trump didn’t support drag queens peacefully reading books to kids:

I don’t care if you find out that Trump fights dogs every weekend in the White House. I don’t care if you find out that Donald Trump runs a dog-fighting ring on Princess Diana’s grave in England. That does not outweigh this!

President Trump has been found running a dog-fighting ring on Princess Diana’s grave—on Mother Teresa’s grave—while having affairs with women… It doesn’t outweigh this!

Just full of morals, this guy.

And in March of 2020, right before the world shut down due to COVID, Right Wing Watch reported on how Shuttlesworth insisted nothing bad would happen to the United States because “Trump honors Israel… And because of that, I predict America will be minimally affected by coronavirus.” He added a quick caveat, just in case: If America was impacted by COVID, it would only hurt blue states that “have chosen to give God the middle finger.”

Then he said churches that remained closed because of public health concerns were “pansies” with “no balls.”

Oh. He also promised that people would be protected from COVID if they donated to his ministry. (“I predict nothing will happen to you or your family… These evils will not touch you.&rdquo

All of that is to say this guy has never cared about anyone outside his bubble.

He has a record of putting others in danger in order to elevate himself. He’s still doing it today by ignoring local ordinances. Even if a judge has given him the green light to proceed, it doesn’t mean everything is okay, and there’s a chance his negligence will create more problems in the community. Not that he would care. He has enough wealth to just hop aboard his private jet and set up shop somewhere else.