As coronavirus cases spike throughout the country, city and state governments are revamping restrictions — and once again raising the question of how to treat churches.
In some states, such as California and New York, where the restrictions have been tight since mid-March, church and state are locked in a now monthslong battle over the exercise of faith. The pandemic’s recent surge is only exacerbating the situation: The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and two New York Orthodox Jewish synagogues in the last week appealed to the Supreme Court after an appeals court ruled that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s reinstated regulations did not violate their rights.
Their appeals, requests for temporary injunctions from the court, argue that government officials specifically target churches by imposing stricter rules on them than on businesses or outdoor protests. Many churches have raised this complaint since governments first started requesting that they close down in March.
“None of this is necessary to protect public health,” attorneys representing the synagogues wrote in the complaint filed Wednesday, adding that Cuomo’s new restrictions are “not based on science,” but rather “fear” in public perception of the coronavirus’s spread in religious communities.
In California, churches face a renewed struggle with the state after Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced that he is pulling the “emergency brake” on reopening the state. That brake, which meant moving 41 of California’s 58 counties back to the governor’s strictest shutdown orders, met strong resistance from state Republicans, who accused Newsom of targeting churches.
“We desperately need the Church to stay open!!!” wrote California Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove in a Facebook post. “Suicide, depression, child abuse, isolation, domestic violence, business closures, the Church is needed and essential, especially in this hour!!! May God raise up his people.”
Newsom since May has faced lawsuits from evangelical pastors, most prominently John MacArthur, a popular pastor at a Los Angeles megachurch. Many other churches in the state have disregarded his past orders, which limit gatherings and ban indoor services, and plan to continue to do so.
“We are big boys and girls,” said Samuel Rodriguez, a popular megachurch pastor in Sacramento. “We know how to be responsible, wearing masks, social distancing, temperature checking. If we can do it at Target, if we can do it at liquor stores, we can do it in God’s house.”
Rodriguez told the city’s NBC affiliate that he is considering legal action.
In other states, churches have voluntarily rolled back their reopenings. Many churches in Kansas, which has seen a surge in the past few weeks, move back online over the weekend. The same was true in Nebraska, which is also experiencing another wave of outbreak. In states such as Idaho and Kentucky, governors this week announced that they are exempting churches from new shutdowns — but urged faith leaders to comply anyway.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday asked churches to “protect their congregation” and follow protocols he set in place for businesses and other public places, which are moving back into hard lockdown this week. Beshear, early in the pandemic, faced fierce backlash from church leaders, as well as Attorney General Daniel Cameron, when he attempted to close churches.
Many Kentucky churches, including the Catholic dioceses in the state, responded that they plan to practice social distancing but have no plans to return to online services.
At the national level, President-elect Joe Biden has taken a softer stance toward lockdowns than he previously projected. During a Thursday press conference, Biden said that there will be “no national shutdown” and defended the rights of churches to make decisions on their own, describing how his own Catholic parish voluntarily keeps attendance at 40% capacity.
“Those are rational decisions,” he said. “It’s not shutting down everything. It’s calibrating based on what the threat is.”
