Last week, you could find some of my neighbors complaining that Montgomery County, Maryland, was irrationally barring religious services. Even outdoor, thoroughly spaced religious ceremonies were prohibited. But now, that’s no longer true. Our county executive is banning only Christian, Jewish, and Muslim ceremonies, as well as those of other organized religions.
The New Church of the Woke, however, is meeting openly, with no social distancing, and with the approval of left-wing County Executive Marc Elrich.
When Elrich issued his slightly-opening-up rules for the county in early June, he deigned to allow stay-in-your-car religious ceremonies. For no good reason, he has continued to prohibit, for instance, a church service on a football field, with masks required, 6 feet between families, and no handshaking.
After those rules came down, Catholic and Jewish friends asked if we had the grounds to sue for religious discrimination. I said only if he allows large, outdoor non-religious gatherings.
Well, things are even worse than that. Check out what was allowed in Montgomery County while Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist ceremonies were banned.
#USA Following the death of George Floyd, Hundreds of white people get on the ground and renounce their white privilege. pic.twitter.com/DKBJ4SX2Nv
— Theophile Bravery (@Theophilebrave) June 3, 2020
This is basically a penance ceremony for the Church of the Woke. It’s hard to consider it anything besides a religious gathering.
Yet, this Friday, Jumaah will be illegal, and on Friday night, so will Sabbath services. Come Sunday, Catholic Mass will be illegal, along with other Sunday services for Christians.
Because I live in a neighborhood with two fairly Orthodox synagogues, the effects of Elrich’s selective religious bans are closer to home. My family watches Mass on YouTube every Sunday. That’s a no-go for observant Orthodox Jews who can’t use the TV or computer on the Sabbath. Even off-Sabbath, a household without 10 grown men lacks a quorum (a minyan) to say the kaddish prayer. And the drive-up ceremonies Elrich offered us are also prohibited by Sabbath rules.
You could try to argue that Elrich’s rules aren’t anti-Jewish because they are generally applicable rules that happen to affect Orthodox Jews disproportionately. But when you see that he sets different rules for the New Church of the Woke, that defense collapses.
