A former Texas congressman and co-founder of the Patriot Institute, Green said such restrictions violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. That clause guarantees the right to practice religion and assemble for expression without government interference.
Green said, “Fifteen to 16 months ago, we probably all would have thought this conversation would never happen in our lifetimes – how could we talk about such a fact? These governors are actually saying to people: You can’t sing in church, or you can’t study the Bible or worship with people in their homes.”
He said, “I never thought this would happen in America in my lifetime. If you told me it was happening in another country, I would believe it, but not in the United States. And it’s absolutely a violation of these basic constitutional principles, whether they use the CCP virus as an excuse or whatever they want to use to do it.”
Last spring, when the CCP virus pandemic first began, jurisdictions across the country imposed strict restrictions on places of worship, such as varying degrees of attendance restrictions based on the severity of the local outbreak, social distancing measures, and requiring people to wear masks. And some states have outright banned people from worshipping indoors.
In response, Green said, “I thought all these restrictions on church gatherings and business openings would have ended quickly last year because there is no provision in the Constitution where we say the government must intervene. But the courts have ignored that and they’re all afraid to act.”
Now, while churches are gradually beginning to reopen, most are still taking precautions related to the virus, according to the Pew Research Center. Only 12 percent of respondents said their churches are open and operating as usual – just as they did before the virus pandemic hit the nation. In response, Green said the U.S. Supreme Court has not only failed to protect the people over the past year, it has also “failed the American people miserably” in responding to lawsuits trying to reverse these severe restrictions on places of worship.
Only in December 2020 did the federal Supreme Court issue a ruling in favor of California churches, ruling that Governor Newsom’s ban on indoor worship constituted unconstitutional religious discrimination.
In response Green said, “From a constitutional standpoint, if you want to tell people they can’t meet in church, you should have to show a compelling benefit. No matter what the reason is.” “And if you don’t have evidence, if you don’t have proof, if you don’t have due process, it’s an absolute violation of religious freedom.”
Green explained, “For example, if there’s an Ebola outbreak and 50 percent of the people die from Ebola, you can say, well, at that particular church where the Ebola outbreak is going on, we should be able to stop it. But something like the new coronavirus that we’re dealing with and saying every church can’t meet like they do in California – that’s not compellingly beneficial.”
He also said that as mentioned in that lawsuit last December, the governor of California placed no limits on gatherings of thousands of demonstrators outdoors, but placed limits on churches, and that would be even more clearly discriminatory against churches.
Recent Comments