A federal judge on Wednesday, April 22, said he will deny a bid by three Southern California churches to hold in-person church services during the coronavirus pandemic, saying that government’s emergency powers trump what in normal times would be fundamental constitutional rights.
U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal in Los Angeles said he will reject the temporary restraining order the churches sought against Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials. They argued that the state’s stay-at-home orders violate the First Amendment right to freedom of religion and assembly.
“During the state of emergency the executive powers are in effect, in that they are empowered to provide for emergency remedies which may infringe on fundamental constitutional rights,” Bernal said at the end of the hourlong hearing. He said he will soon issue a formal ruling.
Many churches have been holding online services. California officials last week said religious organizations can have drive-in services so long as congregants don’t have personal contact.
Attorney Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican Party official and chief executive of the nonprofit Center for American Liberty, argued that it is unfair for the state to allow people to attend to other needs that have been deemed essential, like going to the grocery store or picking up meals, while blocking religious services that she said for many believers are as important as eating.
Officials could require congregants to wear masks and stay a safe distance apart, the same as for other essential activities, she said.
But state Deputy Attorney General Todd Grabarsky said during the hearing held by teleconference that religious organizations are not being singled out by rules that similarly restrict gatherings at concerts, nightclubs, schools — even in-person court hearings.
“Any harm … is really significantly outweighed by the harm to public health,” he told the judge. “We’re dealing with a life-and-death situation for whole groups of people.”
For most people, the highly contagious coronavirus causes symptoms such as high fever and a dry cough. But some people, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, become much sicker and even die.
The lawsuit was filed by three churches in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
James Moffatt, senior pastor at Church Unlimited in Indio, was fined $1,000 for violating Riverside County’s order by holding a Palm Sunday service, according to the lawsuit. The other plaintiffs are a parishioner and the head pastor of Shield of Faith Family Church in Fontana and the senior pastor of Word of Life Ministries International in Riverside.
Rev. Brenda J. Wood of Word of Life Ministries International said earlier that she was not seeking to meet in person indoors, but rather to hold drive-up-style services where parishioners worship from their cars in a parking lot.
A few days after the lawsuit was filed, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, citing new state direction, decided to permit drive-up outdoor services.
Pastor Patrick Scales of Shield of Faith Family Church, however, said he wanted to be able to hold in-person indoor services, while sitting six feet apart and wearing masks.
Scales said by phone Thursday, April 23, that he views the judge’s ruling to be “discriminatory” given that marijuana dispensaries and liquor stores remain open.
“At the prisons, inmates are being released,” Scales added. “And Christians are locked up.”
Churches should be considered essential institutions, he said, at a time when unemployment, school closures and orders to stay home are creating fear and anxiety.
“As a pastor, I consider myself to be a spiritual first responder,” Scales said.
He said he is receiving 10 times more calls for help than he did before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
“I’m getting calls 24-7 … from people who don’t know what to do,” he said.
And Scales said he believes members are best served through in-person services, as opposed to the virtual meetings many Southern California congregations have gone to in response to temporary prohibitions on public gatherings. One cannot deliver the communion sacraments or baptize someone virtually, he said.
Scales doesn’t like the idea of a drive-up service, either.
“The church should never be a McDonald’s drive-through where you can drive up and get a Happy Meal,” he said.
But, given the court decision, Scales said he may hold his church’s Sunday, April 26, service outside.
“If we have to take it to the parking lot, I guess we’ll be forced to do that,” he said. “But I still believe that it is unfair.”
Scales said he would prefer to continue pursuing the suit.
Dhillon said on Thursday that she did not yet know whether she would appeal.
“But this is not the end of the story,” she said.
Dhillon said the ability to assemble for a religious meeting is “a fundamental right.” And she said her clients are looking to exercise that right responsibly, while following social distancing practices.
“People of faith are no more interested than anybody else in dying from this disease,” she said.
On Wednesday, she asked Bernal to hold a further hearing on her request for a preliminary injunction, a process that could take weeks or months.
The suit named officials of Riverside and San Bernardino counties among the defendants.
Spokeswoman Brooke Federico said Riverside County had no comment on the ruling.
David Wert, a San Bernardino County spokesman, said, “we don’t have any reaction.”
Dhillon said other similar lawsuits might be appealed in the meantime.
For instance, a different federal judge earlier this month similarly rejected a temporary restraining order sought against San Diego County officials by a small church in Campo, Abiding Place Ministries.
However, yet another federal judge ruled that Kentucky’s largest city couldn’t stop a local church’s drive-in service.
