Adventist Pastor Released from Prison Seeks Supporters Through Liberty Petition Campaign

Pastor Walter “Chick” McGill, the 66-year old Adventist pastor of the small, Tennessee-based Creation Seventh Day & Adventist Church congregation, was freed from a California prison August 11th after thirty days behind bars.

McGill was imprisoned on Friday, July 13 after a federal warrant for his arrest was issued in a long-standing trademark dispute with the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. The charge was civil contempt of court.  During his jail time in the San Bernardino County Central Detention Center, McGill refused solid foods, taking only water and juice squeezed from oranges. In a statement issued to media outlets, McGill stated that he lost 10% of his body mass during his fast. He called the fast a spiritual cleansing act. McGill’s associate, Lucan Chartier, was imprisoned for ten days after turning himself in to the Redlands Police Department. He too refused food in protest over what he viewed an unjust imprisonment. After his release, Pastor McGill extended the fast 10 days to make a full 40 days of fasting.

In a press release, the Creation 7th Day Adventist leaders stated that they will continue using the name Creation Seventh Day Adventist until God instructs them otherwise. The leaders believe the name to be the name given by God to mark true End Time Adventist believers. The release also stated that McGill was subject to physical abuse when refusing to clean the toilets on the Sabbath day, and he encountered multiple threats from fellow inmates while incarcerated.

On August 24th Pastor McGill published an open letter to the President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists requesting that he facilitate “liberty of conscience” for the Creation Seventh Day Adventist believers in America and the world. In tandem with McGill’s open letter, a Liberty Petition was launched at http://libertypetition.com/ where the CSDA members hope for 10,000 or more signatures.  The Liberty Petition is designed to send a message from the public to the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that their image is not being enhanced by asking the courts to jail Christians because of their conscientious religious beliefs.

Many believe the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists will ask their attorneys to press for permanent incarceration of both McGill and Chartier because of their continued civil disobedience and contempt of court. The CSDAs have exhausted all options for legal appeals.  The Pastor and his assistant are now at the mercy of the court of public opinion.

For up-to-date information about this lawsuit and matters related, you may follow these links.

http://pastorwalterchickmcgilllawsuit.net/

http://csda-adventistchurch.to/

http://pastorwalterchickmcgilllawsuit.net/PDF/OpenLetter2TedWilson2.pdf

Liberty Petition:  http://libertypetition.com/