Finally the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of California churches. The churches in California are now allowed to Worship INDOORS. Last Friday, the Supreme Court issued an order telling the state of California that it cannot bar indoor church services because of the pandemic.
Judge John Roberts wrote that, ‘the maximum number of adherents (church attendees) who can safely worship in the most cavernous cathedral is zero – [this determination] appears to reflect not expertise or discretion, but instead insufficient appreciate or consideration of the interests at stake.’
Judge Amy Coney Barrett also weighed in on the singing ban across churches, ‘if a chorister can sing in a Hollywood studio but not in her church, California’s regulations cannot be viewed as neutral.’
Freedom to express religion has long been a hallmark of America and it has been strained this season. Church closures and capacity caps in California, New York and other places across America have made the choice to worship less about freedom and more about whether or not you go against the government and that is not a good thing.
For a couple hundred years in America, the freedom to worship in whatever way you want, or don’t want, has be the protected baseline. With the advent of this novel virus, that norm has been challenged leaving many church goers and pastors scrambling to find a place between defying the government and following God.
The very thing the founders were working to instill in this country was the removal from the government forcing a particular religion or way to worship. This latest political and social issue of ‘lockdowns’ has strained the relationship between what individuals are free to practice and what is against the ‘guidelines.’
We can only hope that one day soon we can once again use our own common sense to decide if an action, any action, is worth the risk or the reward. Sadly, going to church, has been put into this category of ‘non-essential’ services. The religious, spiritual, cultural, social and even societal implications of removing church from culture are dire and we are seeing it play out in real time across America.
So, this court victory helps, but there is more road for us to travel.
I hope you keep seeking after Jesus. God Bless.