“The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a lower federal court to reexamine California restrictions on indoor religious services in areas hard hit by the coronavirus in light of the justices’ recent ruling in favor of churches and synagogues in New York.” - CLeaders
“When asked if they agreed with the statement, ‘If the government told us to stop gathering in person for worship I would want my congregation to defy the order,’ 34% of respondents who participated in the October survey agreed (with 16% strongly agreeing). By contrast, 21.8% of Americans surveyed in March said that they agreed (with 10.7% strongly agreeing).” - CPost
“In a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court sided with religious organizations in a dispute over Covid-19 restrictions put in place by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo limiting the number of people attending religious services.” - CNN
“Reaction to Gov. Andy Beshear’s request to halt indoor services for houses of worship over the next three to four weeks ranged from disappointment to compassion from a variety of Kentucky Baptist pastors.” - BPNews
The current COVID pandemic has affected almost every area of life in America, including normal church activities. Most churches cancelled every meeting initially, with some opening up partially and others completely after awhile, while still others remained closed. In many cases, these decisions were made by the churches themselves, but for others, decisions were forced upon them by governmental edict. Details vary from state to state and the situation highlights the issue of religious freedom with special focus upon the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Many Christians have given more thought to religious freedom this year than perhaps ever before.
I wrote this article for the congregation where I serve, based on our specific context. It may not be your context!
What to think about government public health edicts and the Church regarding COVID-19? In an outburst of representative frustration, a Southern Baptist theologian recently posted the following on Twitter in response to his Governor’s new lockdown restrictions which, among other things, forbade dancing:1
“The nation’s High Court allowed blatant discrimination to stand in at least two cases limiting church activity during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told the Federalist Society Thursday (Nov. 12).” - BPNews
“Churches in England are to close for public worship from Thursday, after the Prime Minister announced another month-long national lockdown to curb the rapid rise in coronavirus infections in the country…. pubs, restaurants, gyms, and non-essential shops would close, but schools, colleges and universities could stay open.” - C.Times
“A federal judge has ruled that Colorado’s capacity limits on places of worship as well as the requirement that attendees wear masks for the duration of religious services are unconstitutional.” - CPost
“Submitted by Thomas More Society on September 29, 2020, the case charges each of the named parties with eight distinct violations of Burfitt’s rights under the Constitution of California.” - MCD
