Representing Missouri based Televangelist Jim Bakker in an ongoing lawsuit for allegedly selling a false coronavirus cure, attorney Jay Nixon is calling the lawsuit against Bakker an attack on his religious freedom.
On Monday, Nixon – who served as the 55th governor of Missouri for two terms before leaving office in 2017, and two terms as attorney general before that – submitted a court filing against Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt who previously filed suit against Bakker for allegedly selling a product called Silver Solution as a cure for the coronavirus.
“Jim Bakker is being unfairly targeted by those who want to crush his ministry and force his Christian television program off the air,” Nixon, who is currently a partner with St. Louis law firm Dowd Bennett, along with the Kansas City-based firm Spencer Fane, said in a statement.
“The video recording of The Jim Bakker Show clearly shows the allegations are false,” he asserted. “Bakker did not claim or state that Silver Solution was a cure for COVID-19.”
Nixon also noted that Bakker ceased promoting Silver Solution in compliance with orders issued in March by the FDA and the FTC, adding that the product is commonly sold online and in stores.
Furthermore, Nixon implied that the lawsuit violated the Missouri Constitution and the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“Targeting a Christian pastor, who has been using and offering the product for the past 10 years, is not supported by the facts or the law,” Nixon said.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, in February, Bakker, on his show The Jim Bakker Show, was promoting and selling a product called “Silver Solution” which he and a guest reportedly claimed could “eliminate” the coronavirus within 12 hours.
In March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning to The Jim Bakker Show requesting that the production cease the sale of the product. The product was not FDA approved and its alleged use as a coronavirus cure was deemed false by the organization.
The “FDA has determined that these products are unapproved new drugs sold in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), 21 U.S.C. § 355(a),” an official statement from the FDA read.
Also in March, Schmitt filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to stop The Jim Bakker Show from selling Silver Solution as a COVID-19 cure.
Schmitt’s spokesman, Chris Nuelle, declined to comment on Nixon’s recent court filing “except to say we stand by our lawsuit.”
Related:
FDA, FTC Order Jim Bakker to Stop Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure
Photo courtesy: The Jim Bakker Show
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
