• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom®

ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom®

religious liberty and religious freedom news

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Articles
  • Podcast
Home » California agrees to stop enforcing restrictions on churches and to pay church attorney fees

California agrees to stop enforcing restrictions on churches and to pay church attorney fees

May 24, 2021 by ReligiousLiberty.TV

https://dd1.f06.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/6807554_1621985033.mp3

After a year of litigation, the state of California is ordered to back down and pay the attorney fees of a church that had to defend its civil right to meet.

On May 17, U.S. District Court Judge Jesus Bernal entered an order approving a settlement between the State of California and Harvest Rock Church. Included  in the settlement is a state-wide injunction against COVID restrictions on churches and places of worship. California has agreed to stop issuing or enforcing regulations issued in connection with COVID-19 that impose any capacity or numerical restrictions on religious worship services that are more severe than restrictions imposed on other similar gatherings of similar risk.

This settlement was nearly inevitable following U.S. Supreme Court decisions in several cases, including Tandon v. Newsom, South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, Harvest Rock Church, Inc. v. Newsom, and Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, that overturned restrictions that treated churches differently than other similarly situated entities

The order further blocked the state from enforcing any restrictions on the religious exercise of singing and chanting during religious services, other than guidelines generally issued for performances or similar activities.

From now on, the state can make recommendations but must make it clear that they are voluntary and not enforceable.

Finally, the court ordered the state to pay Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, $1.35 million for the “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs necessarily incurred in this case.”  (For those interested, the statutory authority for the fees was the declaration that the Plaintiffs were the prevailing party under 42 U.S.C. section 1988 “Proceedings in vindication of civil rights.”)

This is a win for religious liberty and the idea that the state could block churches from opening simply because they were houses of worship is clearly unconstitutional. Churches are essential as a matter of law.

Unfortunately, on the other end of the United States, a church in Maine has filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block Maine from enforcing capacity restrictions. According to the petition, “Maine imposes the most severe restrictions in the country on churches and places of worship.” Calvary Chapel of Bangor, Maine is represented by Liberty Counsel, the same legal group that successfully represented Harvest Rock Church in the California case.

Filed Under: Church and State, COVID-19, Religious Institutions Tagged With: Calvary Chapel of Bangor, church restrictions, Gavin Newsom, Harvest Rock Church, Liberty Counsel

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Monte Sahlin says

    May 25, 2021 at 7:28 am

    If public health measures designed to protect people from deadly disease is a religious liberty issue, what other potentially deadly behavior should be protected by First Amendment rights? Is it OK for a religious group to claim that heroin is a sacrament in their beliefs and they have the right to hand it out in return for donations? What if an ancient cult wants to sacrifice babies to their deity? I am afraid this opens the door to a great deal of disaster and God is not in it; it is political stupidity.

Primary Sidebar

Geneva, Switzerland - December 03, 2019: World Health Organization (WHO / OMS) Headquarters - DepositPhotos.com

Biden admin could hand over US control of health emergencies to WHO next week

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The ultimate control over America’s health care and its national sovereignty will be put up for a vote next week at a meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) governing legislative body, the World Health Assembly (WHA).  On May 22-28, 2022, the 75th World Health Assembly will convene at the United Nations […]

Statement on the Leak in Dobbs

The leak was intended to disrupt the processing of the decision and we are not going to dignify the leak or the unidentified leaker by analyzing it prematurely. As a constitutional republic we cannot go down that road without doing severe damage to the institution of the Supreme Court where there must be professional courtesy between the justices and their staffs.

Boston City Hall - photo from Supreme Court Opinion

Supreme Court rules 9-0 that Boston violated 1st Amendment in refusing Christian flag at City Hall

This morning the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Shurtleff v. Boston (Dec’d 5/2/2022) that the city of Boston violated the free speech rights of a Christian group when it refused to allow them to participate in a city flag raising program.

Active Liberty - a survey of Justice Stephen Breyer's religion clause jurisprudence - Supreme Court

Active Liberty: A Survey of Justice Stephen Breyer’s Religion Clause Decisions

A comprehensive review of retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s decisions in Free Exercise and Establishment Clause cases.

Canadian gov’t calculates that expansion of assisted suicide will save taxpayers millions of dollars

In Canada, it is easier for the disabled who do not suffer terminal illness to get approval for assisted suicide than approval for affordable housing. The government has calculated the cost of providing healthcare versus providing assisted suicide.

Random Quote

Among the most inestimable of our blessings is that … of liberty to worship our Creator in the way we think most agreeable to His will; a liberty deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.

— Thomas Jefferson

Get the ReligiousLiberty.TV Newsletter!

Comes out a couple of times a month. Unsubscribe anytime automatically, no questions asked.
* = required field
unsubscribe from list

powered by MailChimp!

Copyright © 2022 Founders' First Freedom is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Articles
  • Podcast
0
0
0
0