I little while back I wrote about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s thread to permanently shut down churches and synagogues that continued to have services during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Yesterday I wrote a post that included the Governor of Kentucky’s order to record the license plates of cars that attend Easter Sunday services during the lockdown and punish the worshipers accordingly.
Some churches in Louisville, Kentucky, responded by offering drive-in church services. Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville ordered all church services, including the drive-in services to be shut down.
In Mississippi, police were sent to tell churches hoping to have a drive-in Easter Sunday service that they were going to be shut down.
I the words of one of the responding officers: “by order of the governor, your rights are suspended.”
https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/1249019585887698945
In Kentucky, a federal judge ruled that the ban on drive-in church services is unconstitutional.
The New York Post shows just how ridiculous this situation was.
A federal judge in Kentucky has slapped a restraining order on the mayor of Louisville and his ban on a drive-in Easter church service.
“The Mayor’s decision is stunning,” district court Judge Justin Walker — nominated just days ago to a seat on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals by President Trump — wrote in a ruling Saturday. “And it is, ‘beyond all reason,’ unconstitutional.”
On Fire Christian Church had been holding outdoor Sunday services drive-in style — with all congregants confined to their cars, each vehicle parked six feet apart — to comply with state-ordered coronavirus social-distancing guidelines.
But Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, a Democrat, outlawed the services, including the one planned for Easter Sunday, spurring the church to sue.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul Tweeted his support of this decision.
Thank God for a judge who understands the First Amendment prevents the government from prohibiting the free government exercise of religion.
COVID-19 in Kentucky: Judge grants church's request to hold services https://t.co/FMPfOe9GB0
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 11, 2020
The responses from Leftists were savage.
Holding services, or KILLING PEOPLE, are you a REAL MD?
— krupali MD (@krupali) April 11, 2020
Yelling fire in a crowded church, Rand. The right is not absolute. Your lack of concern for public health—from a doctor no less—is disturbing
— socially distanced and contained (@jaynespayne) April 11, 2020
Well…at least it is now very obvious why that hospital did not put “Dr.” on your ID badge. You stopped being a doctor and a caring human being many years ago, if you ever really were one.
— Stu (@calcaneous) April 11, 2020
Because if Senator Rand Paul, MD thinks that it’s unconstitutional for a mayor to ban a drive-in church service, in which people stay in their cars, parked far apart from each other, to listen to a pastor over a loudspeaker, he’s not really a doctor.
Food is essential to live. Going into a church is not. Ppl can still worship without going in a special building.
— John Henry Brock (@JohnHenryBrock1) April 11, 2020
Grocery shopping is a necessity and should still be done as infrequently as possible…. Religious services are not a necessity. If you cannot pray in your own home then your relationship with God is flawed.
— Z?? (@politicontradic) April 11, 2020
Non-religious people telling religious Christians how to practice their religion. I doubt any of them would have the temerity to tell Muslims not to attend Mosque.
One thing we know for certain about Rand Paul: He doesn’t give two shits about people catching COVID-19.
— Erik the Rural Juror (@EDoggTheRed) April 11, 2020
I agree. All conservative prosperity-gospel Christians should go to their mega-churches and have much fellowship. Sing and pray loudly, and make sure to exhale on your pew-mates. Hug and kiss. Don’t just shake hands, grasp them with meaning. Thoughts and prayers will protect you!
— John Griffith (@bajakeweenaw) April 11, 2020
Please pack in there tight, Christians. Make sure to do the handshake/greet thing during the service.
— They Call Me Mrs T (@MikeTango22202) April 11, 2020
Absolutely. Christians should be able to go to church, hug and kiss, lick the door knobs, share food, blow each other’s noses, and then move to an island off the coast of nowhere.
— Missy Seeks (@MissySeeks) April 12, 2020
Wanting religious Christians to die.
— Viral Spiral (@grailsnail) April 11, 2020
Attacking religious Christians as stupid.
Natural selection…have you heard of it Rand?
— Natalie ? #StopAiringTrump (@heyitsmenatalee) April 11, 2020
And yet….. I remain so perplexed that your neighbor beat the shit out of you…..can’t figure?
— R-E-S-I-S-T✍? #StayHome? (@bettylee1) April 11, 2020
All of this hatred directed towards Christians and attacks on Rand Paul because he recognized that the government doesn’t have the authority to shut down ALL religious services on Easter Sunday because of a virus.
Especially when these pastors have gone out of their way to accommodate the safety guidelines put out by the state and federal governments, i.e., people staying in their cars and the cars more than six feet from each other.
Really, this is the fastest way to get people to not take any of these directives seriously. Like arresting a lone paddle-boarder, this massive overreach doesn’t make people any safer, it just demonstrates that the government is flexing its muscles.
Sending the message: “It doesn’t matter how safe churches try to be, we’re going to shut them down on the holiest day of the year, then attack religious people as stupid and hoping that they die” is not a way to get people to believe that you are actually looking out for their interests or that they should obey any future government safety advisory.
What I am sure of, the post-COVID lockdown lawsuits against various governments for the abridgments of Constitutionally protected civil liberties will be swamping the courts for years to come.
I did not before nor do i now trust any little thing the gov’t says or does.
As for these communists….
A good one is a dead one.
This stuff is far outside the requirements for social distancing the politicians shouldn’t be able to claim sovereign immunity. Banning buying car seats (what if a kid has outgrown theirs? Newborns?) is beyond stupid, it’s dangerous. Banning gardening supplies is as bad — it serves no purpose and was done just because she could — or because she doesn’t understand anything but a crew of landscapers coming out to do the work.
And you’re absolutely right that this hurts honest efforts to control the spread of disease. For that alone these clowns should be facing arrest.
“
MayorGauleiter Greg Fischer of Louisville ordered all church services, including the drive-in services to be shut down.”Fixed it for you.
Be interesting to see if any mosques are shut down. Go to church anyway. Sure does a lot to improve community relationships dont it?
I’m agnostic, but if I lived in Louisville I’d be heading to church just for the sake of protecting the Constitution. With a camera running to capture any attempts to arrest me.
Then petition the US Attorney for the district to bring felony charges against the mayor and anyone who attempts to enforce his “order”, for conspiracy to infringe constitutional rights.
I wonder how many of the haters are paid to monitor all Republican politicians and write that kind of crap. The Soros money goes a long way.
This kind of crap will continue until the penalty for using the force of government to violate the constitutional rights of individuals is more than having to use public revenues (our money) to pay the damages when the cases finally get through court. We need to do away with sovereign immunity in these cases, and hold the power-mad personally responsible. Either that, or we need to hold those who violate their oaths of office criminally liable for doing so. In other words, we need a socially acceptable procedure with sufficient penalties to curtail the behavior, or we’re going to end up with Henry Bowman’s solution.
YMMV….