Seeking repeal of the so-called “Intolerable Acts” of 1775, the first Continental Congress sent Britain’s King George III a petition for redress of grievances which in turn led to Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech.
But severely restricting any of our freedoms, including religious freedom, during COVID-19 is not an intolerable act.
Pushing religious liberty at the expense of public health is antithetical to a church shepherd’s proper concern for his sheep.
Church-goers are humans. Humans contract COVID-19. Obviously, simply entering a church does not magically immunize the one entering, anymore that entering McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.
To borrow from Patrick Henry who said, “I am not a Virginian; I am an American,” how about we – all of us, church goers and otherwise – consider that we’re in this together.
Shepherds and sheep should in fact be leading the way in safely navigating this crisis not trumpeting their rights to freely assemble, protesting limits, discounting the numbers, almost as if there were no world-wide health crisis happening.
The Seattle Times reported (Joseph O’Sullivan) just this morning (November 28) that “Washington could face a ‘catastrophic loss of medical care’ in the coming weeks if the increase in COVID-19 cases continues,” a dire warning issued by Gov. Jay Inslee this week.
Today’s headline from CNN (Christina Maxouris): “US is ‘rounding the corner into a calamity,’ with COVID-19 deaths projected to double soon.”
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissenting opinion to the 5-4 majority wrote (NBC News, November 27, Raul A. Reyes), “The Court’s ruling will only exacerbate the Nation’s suffering.”
Already churches across the nation are saying “Me Too.”
“UC Hastings law professor David Levine said the ruling opens the door for religious groups to challenge pandemic restrictions in other states,” (Allie Rasmus, KTVU FOX 2, November 27).
How many lives, First Amendment religious flag-wavers, are we talking about?
“A million Americans each week,” said Sotomayor, are testing positive for COVID-19.
“The Constitution does not forbid States from responding to public health crises through regulations that treat religious institutions equally or more favorably than comparable secular institutions,” wrote Sotomayor, “particularly when these regulations save lives.”
“The freedom to worship is one of our most cherished fundamental rights, but it does not include a license to harm others or endanger public health,” said Daniel Mach, the director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s freedom of religion and belief program (New York Times, Nov. 26, Jesse McKinley and Liam Stack).
Even under severe restrictions to our normally celebrated and most cherished freedoms, this is not the place, not the time, not the hill to die on.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
David, I appreciate your view, but, the church is under persecution at this time by the liberal left. Why didn’t inslee close down the marijuana shops, the abortion clinics, and other non essential establishments in the first shutdown? Why was it only the church?
You group all churches as those who are “trumpeting their rights to freely assemble, protesting limits, discounting the numbers, almost as if there were no world-wide health crisis happening.” Well sir, not every church is doing this and they are aware of the number of cases, they aren’t protesting the limits on the gathering. They are abiding by them because they are trying to love their neighbor. There are a lot of senior adults who chose to come and need the social interaction they get in the church. So before you go putting all churches in the same category, why don’t you visit a few to see what is really happening in the church.
If the churches are practicing all the guidelines as prescribe by the CDC and mandated by inslee, why shouldn’t they be able to meet? If you check the PCHD page, churches are among the lowest in COVID19 cases.
Thanks David, it’s encouraging to see the voice of reason expressed in this atmosphere of “my rights”,
people seem to forget their responsibilities to others these days. Christians should be examples to all in this area.
I’VE ALWAYS BEEN UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT GOD’S GOT EXCELLENT HEARING AND THAT HE CAN HEAR PRAYERS FROM ANYWHERE,YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE IN A CHURCH.I THINK THS IS JUST SOME “PASTORS’ ARE GOING TO MISS THAT COLLECTION PLATE. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A CHRISTIAN DECISION,RISKING THE LIVES OF FELLOW AMERICANS.
You are correct. God has great hearing and He hears our prayers wherever we are. Church is much more than just praying. By you statements in your response, you must not be aware that most churches have online giving, members mail their tithes and offerings in or drop them by the church office so there goes your theory on the offering plate. People make a choice on if they attend or not. The church doesn’t force anyone to come to the building to worship. Most churches have online services, online Sunday School, and other classes online. We are making every means available for people to worship. At our church we strictly enforce wearing of mask, hand sanitizing, and social distancing. You should check some churches out before you decide we are not being Christian by exercising our freedom to worship. Are you ready to close down the marijuana stores and abortion clinics?
“Not a Chriastian decision”…..it is a Constitutional decision.
Covid has provided an excuse for many things that Americans are unfamiliar with, including rules being propagated by officials at various levels of government. The rules are so inconsistent with the actual “science” and so inconsistent in each jurisdictions that people are of course skeptical that the rules are fairly crafted based on real science, to meet the community needs and treat everyone objectively.
Some of these rules carry fines and punishments. Remember these are rules decided upon by a signal official not laws passed by an elected legislature. This process raises questions, that along with the inconsistency of the science, give rise to serious questioning by people who have been deprived of the jobs, have their physical and mental health impacted, not able to socialize with friends and family as well as being deprived of their spiritual needs.
There are those who are willing to accept these things without considering the side effects these rules cause. These include; large increases in deaths and illness from untreated medical conditions, suicides, alcohol and drug abuse, wife and child abuse.
Keeping children out of school is a large hardship on families where both parents need to work to survive. This doesn’t count the loss of education and earnings for children who are nearing a full years loss of their education. These children are also missing school meals, social growth and the discovery of child abuse in which schools have a big part.
For those who are able to work from home things may seem all right, but remember not every one is in your situation. Before we all become covid police think a bit about the big picture and those in different circumstances.
When the Un-peaceful rioters are stopped first, then talk to the People, not Subjects, about stopping Religious gatherings for Safety issues!
Where are the reporters talking about the increases after Portland, Seattle rioters went unchecked for months?