As is the story below, which concludes with this quote from a neighbor near the non-compliant church:
I wish state police would come out and do something. This is above our little local police level. The state needs to get involved. If they get out of church and go to the grocery store, it’s a serious health hazard. They don’t know how many people they’re affecting, and they don’t seem to care. That’s a problem.
A post was merged into an existing topic: Reno and Hitchens Question the Shutdown
This ship may have sailed - but I recently posted this article on our law firm’s Facebook page. Jeff Ventrella, with Alliance Defending Freedom, shares many of our theological commitments and is very well-versed in Constitutional Law and cultural apologetics. COVID-19 and Legality: An Interview with Jeffery J. Ventrella | Christian Culture
Thanks for sharing, @TKidd. This is good:
The basis for “shelter in place” gubernatorial executive orders rests solidly in the “police power” reserved to the States. Now, the rub occurs because such measures may impact, impede, and potentially interfere with other fundamental rights also protected constitutionally, such as speech and the exercise of religion. That in itself, while inconvenient, is not axiomatically unbiblical nor unlawful. However, if a measure specifically targets a particular right, such as religious services or gatherings, instead of applying the measure to (say) all public gatherings, it is pernicious and likely unconstitutional.
Now, despite some social media sloganeering, the fundamental rights of speech and religious exercise are not absolute and thus they can be subject to the police power to some extent even in non-emergent contexts…
While a general prohibition on gathering of more than 10 people may be valid under the current legal doctrine and circumstances, restricting clergy from one-on-one in person counseling, or visiting dying patients, as some hospitals are reportedly doing – whether of COVID or not – raises deep and troubling constitutional questions.