Posted on 04/14/2023 10:59:46 AM PDT by lightman
A judge ruled Friday to have a church in California pay $1.2 million in fines—including interest—for defying COVID-19 rules during the pandemic by holding large religious services where attendees were not wearing masks.
Calvary Chapel in San Jose was dealt the fine, including 10 percent interest, on April 7 by Evette Pennypacker, a Superior Court of California judge in Santa Clara County, for having exhibited “egregious conduct” in flouting the mask-wearing rules of the county between November 2020 and June 2021.
Calvary Chapel was one among several large churches in California that ignored the state and local mask-wearing and social distancing rules at the time.
“It should appear clear to all—regardless of religious affiliation—that wearing a mask while worshiping one’s god and communing with other congregants is a simple, unobtrusive, giving way to protect others while still exercising your right to religious freedom,” Pennypacker wrote in the April 7 ruling.
She rejected the church’s argument that the public health orders stopped it from exercising its religious freedom, or that the orders violated the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Mariah Gondeiro, an attorney for Calvary Chapel, told the San Jose Mercury News the church will appeal.
“We look forward to establishing more precedent on appeal that will have far greater implications for the future,” she wrote in a statement.
The county has been seeking millions of dollars in fines from the church after it ignored the public health orders. Calvary Chapel subsequently sued the county, saying the health orders violated its religious freedom. Various courts have ruled either in favor of the church or the county.
The church and its pastors were previously held in contempt of court and fined for violating limits on indoor public gatherings. But last year, a state appeals court reversed the decision, after it found that restrictions that had been imposed by the county on indoor worship services were stricter than for everyday activities such as going to grocery stores.
County Counsel James Williams issued a statement on the ruling on Wednesday. He asserted that the county’s response to the pandemic, which included imposing the public health orders and enforcing the orders against “entities that refused to follow the law,” had “saved thousands of lives.” He said the county is “gratified that the Court once again saw through Calvary’s unsupported claims and found them meritless.”
Sorry, only postponed thousands of deaths.
And yet the Governor who constantly broke the rules gets a pass.
Your government hates you. Hate them back.
The masks didn't save a single life.
Events is actually not very smart.
An intellectual light weight
Appeal
The county won’t challenge
Why do people live in CA? It sounds like a crazy place to be.
YUP!!!!
Judge Pennypacker is forcing this church to pinch their pennies with this punitive fine. Will this church survive financially?
Now?! Biden pretends to stop the emergency, and CA does this? Guess they have to get that reparation money from somewhere.
CA government is so full of crap.
Masks are just now being proven to have been the cause of “long covid”.
The church needs to appeal and then counter-sue for infringing on the right to worship and freely assemble.
The weather and the geography. If 3/4 of the people would leave, it would be paradise.
Well I left and it’s gotten Worse!
;)
Leftist democrats are at war with us and they use lawfare as their primary weapon.
Unconstitutional. Appeal it. Santa Clara superior court can GFI.
If you have studied up on this as I have note that the real rebellion against “mask orders” on the Spanish Flu endemic the straw that broke the camels back were photographs of Hollywood stars and politicians going to massive parties with guess wut? No masks. This story has nothing to do with interest of public safety it is about tyrants control. I have a VERY whacko far left RN friend and she was just aghast at my refusal to wear a mask or wear a banana peel on my head either so I carefully explained the math. Did not matter she was/is a fanatic and that’s it.
There two reasons people live in Kalifornia; they make too much money to leave or they don’t make enough.
Christians persecuted as mask proven to not work and now shown to help long covid stay around. San Jose a communist hellhole.
And all the county sees is getting rid of a Christian church and $$$$$$$$$......
That’s not a legitimate fine. That is retaliation and intimidation in case anyone else is thinking of standing up to government tyranny.
It’s a cash cow for them.
I’m sure that’s the point.
Tell the judge to shove it
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