Posted on 04/16/2020 7:57:01 AM PDT by knighthawk
Three southern California churches who want to remain open amid the coronavirus pandemic filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials on Monday, arguing that stay-at-home orders violate their First Amendment right to freedom of religion and assembly.
The Center for American Liberty, a conservative non-profit, filed the lawsuit in the federal court for the Central District of California on behalf of three pastors and one parishioner in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, east of Los Angeles. Attorney General Xavier Becerra and officials of San Bernardino and Riverside counties are also named as defendants.
Newsom, a Democrat, and others are accused of "criminalizing church attendance" under overly broad state and local stay-at-home orders instead of allowing houses of worship to remain open if they practice safe social distancing in the same manner as grocery stores and other outlets considered essential services.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
In before the unlimited emergency power defenders.
IBTUEPD
FINALLY!
Episcopalian Churches can operate as normal!
I’m thinking that small churches should start meeting in Wal Mart or Costco parking lots.
My church has about 300 members. Our parking lot is large enough to hold a service.
Costco would hold a smallish megachurch.
If you hold the meeting in your church parking lot the cops will come down on you like white on rice.
No one will notice if you hold it in the Costco parking lot. Just have each parishioner grab a cart and pretend to be in line.
Why not have a “paripatetic” service where the parishioners just keep walking between the rows (every other row so as to keep the 6’ separation) of pews like they were moving through the aisles of a supermarket.
As long as they have masks on and keep moving what’s the difference? As an additional benefit, they would probably be getting the only exercise for the week and that should help stave of the virus and the busybodies.
Bkmk
Around here they wouldn’t have enough room.
Those places are busier than a bar on free beer night.
Ah, a Harvard boy.
Nice use of the Aristotelian symbolism.
Us mere night school grads had to look that one up.
Our Costco is only crowded when there is a rumor that the toilet paper shipment just came in.
An excerpt from Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s classic Seasons of Faith and Conscience (1991).
The sealing of the tomb is, I believe, notoriously misunderstood. I grew up with a Sunday School notion that to seal the tomb was a matter of hefting the big stone and cementing it tight. The seal, in my mind’s eye, was something like first-century caulking–puttying up the cracks to keep the stink in. Not so. This is a legal seal. Cords would be strung across the rock and anchored at each end with clay. To move the stone would break the seal and indicate tampering.
The event conspicuously echoes the story of Daniel sealed in the den of lions. “And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel” (Daniel 6:18). As there, this is a legal lock on the tomb door–not air tight, but politically tight. To move the stone and break the seal is a civil crime. The resurrection is against the law.
The seal is also a recurring theme in the book of Revelation. Remember the scroll of history sealed with seven seals? Only One is worthy to break them and look upon or unveil the truth: that One is the Lamb who was slain. The seal is a claim of ownership and authority. Its meaning in Revelation is at least that God in Christ reigns sovereign over all history and in all events.
Caesar, in Pilate, on the other hand, violently disputes the claim. He has set his seal of approval on Jesus’ death, and now he guarantees it with troops. Secured by security forces. When the seal is broken in the resurrection, it stands among the signs that the power of the powers (death in all its forms) has been broken. The dominion of political authority–especially inflated, aggressive–and imperial authority has been cut to the heart.
an awful lot of this is just “public servants” and lawyers tossing the salad for cash
there’s not a heckuva lot else going on...and somebodies in the legislature will get their little “fee” for keeping the
salad tossable.
Our church sanctuary is very large, but the congregation is very small — 30 people max on any Sunday. We could meet indoors and easily observe distancing.
I married UP and it filtered down!
I’m going to take a huge risk today. I’m going out without a mask and in lieu of church, I’m going to In & Out for lunch and pick up a John 3:16 cup and some holy fries and a blessed cheeseburger.
Can I get an Amen?
How many times do you plan to post this?
Rotflol
Don’t forget the Revelation 3:20 fries. (Amen.)
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