- Feb 5, 2002
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The Supreme Court has decided that there is something not quite kosher about padlocking houses of worship, or imposing extreme limits on religious gatherings which amounts to the same thing, while bars and stores remain open.
Wrote Judge Gorsuch:
Under the Governor’s edict, a 10- screen ‘multiplex’ may host 500 moviegoers at any time. A casino, too, may cater to hundreds at once, with perhaps six people huddled at each craps table here and a similar number gathered around every roulette wheel there. Large numbers and close quarters are fine in such places. But churches, synagogues, and mosques are banned from admitting more than 50 worshippers—no matter how large the building, how distant the individuals, how many wear face masks, no matter the precautions at all.
In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion. The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.
You probably consider this rather obvious. There is a reason that the right to worship is listed first in the Bill of Rights. So thank you Supreme Court for doing what we thought was your job, even if the decision came about nine months late.
The disgrace is not only that it took so long to act. It is also that the ruling was narrow: 5 to 4. Four justices on the Supreme Court seem not to have even a rudimentary understanding of the Constitution. That’s a chilling revelation.
Continued below.
For Many Churches, It Is Too Late
Wrote Judge Gorsuch:
Under the Governor’s edict, a 10- screen ‘multiplex’ may host 500 moviegoers at any time. A casino, too, may cater to hundreds at once, with perhaps six people huddled at each craps table here and a similar number gathered around every roulette wheel there. Large numbers and close quarters are fine in such places. But churches, synagogues, and mosques are banned from admitting more than 50 worshippers—no matter how large the building, how distant the individuals, how many wear face masks, no matter the precautions at all.
In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion. The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.
You probably consider this rather obvious. There is a reason that the right to worship is listed first in the Bill of Rights. So thank you Supreme Court for doing what we thought was your job, even if the decision came about nine months late.
The disgrace is not only that it took so long to act. It is also that the ruling was narrow: 5 to 4. Four justices on the Supreme Court seem not to have even a rudimentary understanding of the Constitution. That’s a chilling revelation.
Continued below.
For Many Churches, It Is Too Late
