DOJ: 'Expect action' on government regulation of religious services amid COVID-19 outbreak

[charsan]

The Justice Department (DOJ) may take action next week against local governments that have cracked down on religious services as widespread parts of the country are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, a DOJ spokesperson said Saturday.

“While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly [and] not single out religious [organizations],” DOJ Director of Communications Kerri Kupec tweeted.

DOJ: 'Expect action' on government regulation of religious services amid COVID-19 outbreak

Indeed welcome news, Praise God our rights are coming back! Liberty will be restored!

 

[sfs]

Where have religious organizations been singled out?

 

[Speedwell]

The Justice Department (DOJ) may take action next week against local governments that have cracked down on religious services as widespread parts of the country are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, a DOJ spokesperson said Saturday.

“While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly [and] not single out religious [organizations],” DOJ Director of Communications Kerri Kupec tweeted.

DOJ: 'Expect action' on government regulation of religious services amid COVID-19 outbreak

Indeed welcome news, Praise God our rights are coming back! Liberty will be restored!

In what sense are religious organizations being singled out? Do not the rules apply to all large gatherings?

 

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

your liberties were never taken away, friend. covid is serious.

 

[dzheremi]

I don't see evidence that these regulations are being applied to churches in any way that they are not also being applied to sports gatherings, political gatherings, or other similar large gatherings of people.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Ah but it’s inappropriate federal overreach to use consent decrees to muscle local PD’s into not abusing black people. Got it.

 

[charsan]

Liquor stores are open and every other thing is open. Churches are illegal and even if a Church can meet responsibly they get raided and taken down. All over no one can worship at Church

Where I live all Church is forbidden under pain of law, all over is like this. Our God given rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are finally getting acknowledged. Here is a sad story:

A Mississippi church is suing the city of Greenville after police shut down its drive-in service this week in accordance with a city ban on the practice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit Friday on behalf of the Temple Baptist Church. The filing challenges Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons' April 7 executive order that prohibits drive-in church services until a statewide shelter-in-place order is lifted.

The suit comes after eight uniformed Greenville police officers reportedly issued $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where a drive-in service was being conducted Wednesday, the ADF said in a statement announcing the legal challenge.

The group contends that church congregants stayed in their cars with their windows rolled up while listening to Pastor Arthur Scott preach from inside the empty Go Church building.

“Government is clearly overstepping its authority when it singles out churches for punishment, especially in a ridiculous fashion like this,” said ADF senior counsel Ryan Tucker, director of the ADF Center for Christian Ministries. “In Greenville, you can be in your car at a drive-in restaurant, but you can’t be in your car at a drive-in church service. That’s not only nonsensical, it’s unconstitutional, too.”


Mississippi church sues police after congregants ticketed during drive-in service

Satan had a field day, but it's coming to an end Praise God!

 

[loveofourlord]

Liquor stores are open and every other thing is open. Churches are illegal and even if a Church can meet responsibly they get raided and taken down. All over no one can worship at Church

Where I live all Church is forbidden under pain of law, all over is like this. Our God given rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness are finally getting acknowledged. Here is a sad story:

A Mississippi church is suing the city of Greenville after police shut down its drive-in service this week in accordance with a city ban on the practice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit Friday on behalf of the Temple Baptist Church. The filing challenges Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons' April 7 executive order that prohibits drive-in church services until a statewide shelter-in-place order is lifted.

The suit comes after eight uniformed Greenville police officers reportedly issued $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where a drive-in service was being conducted Wednesday, the ADF said in a statement announcing the legal challenge.

The group contends that church congregants stayed in their cars with their windows rolled up while listening to Pastor Arthur Scott preach from inside the empty Go Church building.

“Government is clearly overstepping its authority when it singles out churches for punishment, especially in a ridiculous fashion like this,” said ADF senior counsel Ryan Tucker, director of the ADF Center for Christian Ministries. “In Greenville, you can be in your car at a drive-in restaurant, but you can’t be in your car at a drive-in church service. That’s not only nonsensical, it’s unconstitutional, too.”


Mississippi church sues police after congregants ticketed during drive-in service

Satan had a field day, but it's coming to an end Praise God!

HOW DARE YOU USE THOS WORDS, life liberty and happiness when pushing something incredibly against such things. These churches that remain open will kill hundreds , and you talk about life and happiness. it's revolting.

Again with the nonsense about alcohol, maybe you don't have the ability to tell the difference between going into a store with maybe 1-2 other people vs, a church with hundreds or more people in them. You do not have the right to kill others and is disgusting people think they do.

 

[cow451]

The Justice Department (DOJ) may take action next week against local governments that have cracked down on religious services as widespread parts of the country are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, a DOJ spokesperson said Saturday.

“While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly [and] not single out religious [organizations],” DOJ Director of Communications Kerri Kupec tweeted.

DOJ: 'Expect action' on government regulation of religious services amid COVID-19 outbreak

Indeed welcome news, Praise God our rights are coming back! Liberty will be restored!

In other news, shares of Grim Reaper stock are up.

 

[loveofourlord]

In other news, shares of Grim Reaper stock are up.

yeah...on a good note,this may very well get churches shutdown for the duration of the virus if things go really bad tomorrow, which depends on how many idiots end up going.

 

[keith99]

Liquor stores are open and every other thing is open. Churches are illegal and even if a Church can meet responsibly they get raided and taken down. All over no one can worship at Church

Here is godless California stores except for those considered vital are closed. I know my garden center of choice was closed at the very beginning. Markets, as in food stores are open. Hardware stores are open. I have not verified anything else being open.

And I know a Church near me was open last Sunday, but in a way that maintained social distancing. It looked like communion under an awning and based on the lack of numbers eat and run.

On that I'll point out that every store that had samples or self serve areas closed those long ago. So the Church looked to be doing something nowhere else has been doing for weeks.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Where are all the 'States rights' people all of a sudden?

 

[Lady Bug]

What if another virus comes right after this one, or a third one after the second, etc? What if the authorities use these same measures for every new virus? I think some people who are complacent with what is happening mistakenly believe that forbidding most human interaction is just temporary. Would you be ok with such isolation for years? Never having a gathering ever again? Next time a new virus comes, we're going to be doing this all over again, sooner rather than later, and it will be every year. See how much you'll be able to hold onto your sanity. You won't be able to. Multitudes of people might commit suicide because human beings will not be able to cope with unnatural isolation for such indefinite periods of time.

 

[loveofourlord]

What if another virus comes right after this one, or a third one after the second, etc? What if the authorities use these same measures for every new virus? I think some people who are complacent with what is happening mistakenly believe that forbidding most human interaction is just temporary. Would you be ok with such isolation for years? Never having a gathering ever again? Next time a new virus comes, we're going to be doing this all over again, sooner rather than later, and it will be every year. See how much you'll be able to hold onto your sanity. You won't be able to. Multitudes of people might commit suicide because human beings will not be able to cope with unnatural isolation for such indefinite periods of time.

when the next virus this deadly shows up then they SHOULD do that, people are dying, out there not a good time to whine about rights being removed. You don't have the right to kill others.

 

[dzheremi]

What if another virus comes right after this one, or a third one after the second, etc? What if the authorities use these same measures for every new virus? I think some people who are complacent with what is happening mistakenly believe that forbidding most human interaction is just temporary. Would you be ok with such isolation for years? Never having a gathering ever again? Next time a new virus comes, we're going to be doing this all over again, sooner rather than later, and it will be every year. See how much you'll be able to hold onto your sanity. You won't be able to. Multitudes of people might commit suicide because human beings will not be able to cope with unnatural isolation for such indefinite periods of time.

Yeah!!!

Remember how all life shut down forever after the Spanish Flu, so that none of us are alive right now?!

But seriously, there will always be more viruses and more calls for isolation when deemed necessary, but I think the fact that we can go ~100 years between such major outbreaks shows that fears like the above are unfounded. Besides, the only thing that will practically guarantee prolonged back-to-back periods of isolation is people messing up the current social distancing guidelines to the degree that we don't actually deal with the virus, and it just keeps coming back when we could have dealt with it more comprehensively the first time around by actually following the guidelines that health professionals are giving us, rather than whining about it or being alarmists. I mean, do you think that all of these health professionals want to be cooped up inside, either? That is when they're not on the front lines in hospitals around the world fighting, treating, and unfortunately often catching the disease?

The world is bigger than any of us, and the entire world is fighting this together. Let's help it and ourselves out by checking our egos at the door and restraining our need to be the cool maverick who won't let those big bullies (...at the World Health Organization, of all places...? ) tell us what to do when all that kind of attitude is going to get us is MORE spread of the virus, MORE death, MORE infection, and MORE imposed isolation. If you really care about ending all of this, you'll stay the heck home!

 

[Vylo]

What if another virus comes right after this one, or a third one after the second, etc? What if the authorities use these same measures for every new virus? I think some people who are complacent with what is happening mistakenly believe that forbidding most human interaction is just temporary. Would you be ok with such isolation for years? Never having a gathering ever again? Next time a new virus comes, we're going to be doing this all over again, sooner rather than later, and it will be every year. See how much you'll be able to hold onto your sanity. You won't be able to. Multitudes of people might commit suicide because human beings will not be able to cope with unnatural isolation for such indefinite periods of time.

its been like 3 weeks calm down. We haven't had an outbreak this serious in literally over 100 years. Once it subsides we will be OK. It is just going to be a crappy up to 2 years. There may be lingering nastiness if there is no vaccine, but its going to be akin to the flu having a best friend that comes to visit.

Stay home for a while, wash your hands, and wait. Eventually we will loosen the lockdown, have some more cases, and perhaps lockdown a bit again in certain areas. We are just trying to get this under control because a certain orange buffoon saw it fit to delay action to the point where things got out of hand.

 

[Lady Bug]

I don't know where people get the idea I'm whining. I even understand your concerns. We had decades of normal activity even after the 1918 flu, I will grant you that.

I don't get the attitude over here. I'm accused of whining, when it's others who are being nasty instead.

I actually never go out, except for groceries, and I don't even like doing that right now, given that the virus is everywhere. I'm not being careless, not on purpose. However the people in front of me have about 6 to 8 cars at their house all the time and they are not all residents. I don't think they are being careful at all.

 

[loveofourlord]

I don't know where people get the idea I'm whining. I even understand your concerns. We had decades of normal activity even after the 1918 flu, I will grant you that.

I don't get the attitude over here. I'm accused of whining, when it's others who are being nasty instead.

I actually never go out, except for groceries, and I don't even like doing that right now, given that the virus is everywhere. I'm not being careless, not on purpose. However the people in front of me have about 6 to 8 cars at their house all the time and they are not all residents. I don't think they are being careful at all.

because your taking what is happening during a world wide disaster and trying to say without reason that it will go further, there is a ton of people saying that all these rights were giving up now will never return.

 

[Richard T]

Where are all the 'States rights' people all of a sudden?

State's rights only exist for those things not listed in the Constitution or the amendments. Since the free exercise of religion and right to assemble are in the first amendment, it thus becomes a federal issue. If the state has a compelling reason ( I would say yes it does) to restrict those rights the church, then the ban will continue. However, in the case of the drive-in church, there does not seem to be a compelling reason. The home depot parking lot has lots of cars, so if the church wants to meet in cars, spread apart so as to not interfere with guidelines, then I am guessing that a federal judge will overrule any state or local power.

 

[Larniavc]

Multitudes of people might commit suicide because human beings will not be able to cope with unnatural isolation for such indefinite periods of time.

They would be doing that on their own, rather than exposing right minded people who want to survive with a potentially lethal virus.