“The church was fined for allegedly violating restrictions on in-person worship services and mask mandates implemented by the New Mexico Department of Health. The restrictions, which went into effect on Dec. 15, require churches located in “red-level” counties to cap attendance at 25% of capacity.” - CPost
“Users of the online database [hymnary.org] doubled as the novel coronavirus closed many church buildings this spring, and the website now is nearing 40 million page views for 2020, its highest ever.” - RNS
“A viral social media video insinuates that the COVID-19 vaccine contains trackable microchips that will be injected into vaccine recipients. The video, just under 4 minutes long, is a composite of clips …. they create a false impression that those who get vaccinated for COVID-19 will be injected with a ‘forced chip with a tracking device.’” - The Dispatch
In the last article, we saw the Court determined public health considerations cannot run roughshod over religious liberty concerns. Justice Gorsuch, who seemed particularly outraged, quipped the Constitution does not take a sabbatical during a pandemic. However, Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan disagree. They wish to continue to defer to Governors and public health orders.
This past Wednesday (25 November 2020), the Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) barred restrictions on religious services in New York that Gov. Cuomo had imposed to combat COVID-19. The vote was 5-4. If the late Justice Ginsburg were on the bench instead of Amy Barrett, it would have gone the other way.
This is not a permanent decision. Justice Kavanaugh explains:
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
“Leaders urge Americans to ‘put aside partisan politics’ and pray in the spirit of 1 Timothy 2.” - C.Today
Related:
Curiosity might kill cats but it’s a really good thing in humans. We could all use more of it. I offer the following to the masks-vs-COVID curious. My view on both mask use and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) use—along with most other COVID-related questions—has been that being dogmatic isn’t appropriate either way.
That said, my overall impression of the evidence continues to be that masks are very likely somewhat helpful and HCQ very likely isn’t. This post focuses on masks.
Evidence comes in many forms. Here I’ll look at these categories:
“… the indoor services were guided by social distancing protocols. The church, which is located in a rural community south of Huntsville and usually runs between 80 and 100 in services, met for a while during the pandemic with drive-in services. In June, Warrior Creek Baptist was back to some normal gatherings.
