A concerned Tupelo, Miss., resident contacted FFRF to report that a Tupelo Police Department vehicle was featured in a recent advertisement for the Word of Life Church. The ad featured Pastor Tommy Galloway exiting a department vehicle, then quoting the bible as a “warning” to viewers that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus.” He advertised the Word of Life broadcast as a way to “find out more about this free gift.”
On Dec. 4, 2017, FFRF Associate Council Sam Grover wrote Police Chief of Tupelo Police Department Bart Aguirre to issue a complaint about department property being used in a religious advertisement.
On June 8, City Attorney Ben Logan wrote to notify FFRF that the television advertisement for Word of Life Church that used a Tupelo Police Department vehicle was “pulled from the air as of Dec. 12, 2017.”