Free Republic

California’s Grace Community Church and its head pastor, John MacArthur, won the right to continue meeting in person for worship on Friday after state ordinances deemed religious services as unessential, but it was quickly overruled by an emergency order enacted by the California Court of Appeals the next day, making it again illegal for the church to meet indoors. “At this very preliminary stage in this litigation, the County has demonstrated a likelihood that it will prevail on the merits of enforcing its July 18, 2020, Health Order,” the three judges wrote in the opinion on Saturday. The county of...

A California court rejected Friday efforts by Los Angeles County to require a popular megachurch to comply with pandemic orders, allowing the church to hold indoor services with singing and without attendance limits pending a resolution of the case. Superior Court Judge James Chalfant denied the county’s request for a temporary restraining order against Grace Community Church after the church began holding indoor services July 26 in defiance of state and county rules aimed at combating the novel coronavirus, according to a press release from the Thomas More Society. Attorney Jenna Ellis called it a “historic win,” tweeting that the...