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Two of America’s prominent legal teams that fight for religious and other rights, the American Center for Law and Justice and Advocates for Faith and Freedom, have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court to fight a state court decision in California allowing a church to be fined for holding worship services.
The dispute over the $1.2 million that leftists in California fined Calvary Chapel San Jose during the COVID-19 pandemic over regulations like distancing and masking and meetings that now are known to have been largely useless focuses on just exactly how much can a government control a church’s worship.
“This case presents a new frontier: not just whether churches can meet, but whether the government may dictate the manner of worship itself,” the ACLJ report on the fight explains. “We are asking the Supreme Court to affirm that the Constitution protects both the freedom to believe and the freedom to practice those beliefs – without government interference, intimidation, or crushing financial punishment.”
During the pandemic triggered by the China virus, Santa Clara County, where the church is located, mandated a long list of “health orders.” Those literally took control of “every detail of public life – including how a church could conduct its services.”
Of course the county, which issued rules for churches regarding masking, distancing, and capacity, carved out exemptions for favored secular activities allowing professional athletics, restaurants and retail operations to enjoy freedoms churches were denied.
Calvary Chapel and Pastor Mike McClure continued to gather for worship, and the county responded with injunctions, contempt sanctions and eventually, fines.
The contempt orders later were overturned as unconstitutional but the California courts, far left in their agenda, upheld $1.2 million in penalties.
The fines were levied “solely because they chose to follow their faith rather than California Governor Gavin Newsom’s ever-shifting rules on how, when, and where worship could occur,” the ACLJ reported.
Questions at issue include whether fines imposed for adhering to religious convictions are excessive, which precedents allow government officials to micromanage religious services and whether that violates the Free Exercise Clause, whether churches can hold worship services free from government interference and more.
“This case is about far more than one church in California. It’s about whether government officials can claim authority to referee worship – dictating whether congregants may sing, how far apart they must stand, or whether a pastor may lead communion. Those powers are incompatible with the First Amendment and with the very idea of religious liberty in America,” the ACLJ reported.
“If the lower court’s ruling stands, it would give state and local officials unprecedented power to control the internal life of churches whenever they invoke ‘public health’ or another broad governmental interest.”
WorldNetDaily reported earlier when the government went to extremes in its agenda against the Christian church.
One county lawyer in the Calvary Chapel San Jose fight even ended up being named as a defendant in a lawsuit for “retaliating” against the church.
Advocates for Faith and Freedom said at the time a federal judge approved adding Santa Clara Conty Counsel James Williams because went he beyond the law, contacting its bank and making allegations about the church.
The lawyer complained to the bank that the church had been held in contempt and fined over $1 million, so the bank sent a Notice of Default for noncompliance with governmental rules and nonpayment of fines.
However, Williams withheld information that the fines and penalties were being contested, and when the bank discovered the lawyer’s failures, it withdrew its notice to the church.
The church’s lawyers explained there was no legitimate basis for Williams to send the letters, and that they apparently were intended to “put pressure on Pastor McClure and Calvary.”
At the same time, Santa Clara County officials were demanding documentation of “Calvary’s sources of revenue, loans, and budgets, claiming these requests are relevant to determine how much Calvary ‘profited’ during the pandemic,” Advocates reported.
“The county falsely equates a church to a commercial enterprise, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of a church’s distinct purpose and unique legal protections,” the letter said. “Unlike a business, churches do not function to earn a profit.”
Retaliating against church amid COVID lands government official in hot water
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