Though San Francisco apparently plans to change the rules this Wednesday, many are questioning why the city limited indoor church services to just “ONE” persons.
Of course, these restrictions were put in place in the name of the pandemic. But if it was really about stopping the coronavirus, why were gyms, casinos and daycares not similarly restricted?
The US Federal Justice Department sent a letter to the city questioning the constitutionality of this regulation imposed on churches.
The Christian Post explains:
The Justice Department has warned San Francisco Mayor London Breed that the city’s limitations on indoor worship to one congregant at a time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic “is contrary to the Constitution and the nation’s best tradition of religious freedom.”
In response to the city’s policy of only allowing one person at a time to enter houses of worship, the Justice Department said in its letter to Breed that the city could not limit places of worship to a single congregant while “allowing multiple patrons in other indoor settings including gyms, tattoo parlors, hair salons, massage studios, and daycares.”
The limitation is “draconian, out of step with the treatment afforded other similar indoor activities in San Francisco, wholly at odds with this Nation’s traditional understanding of religious liberty, and may violate the First Amendment to the Constitution,” wrote Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David Anderson.
READ: DOJ warns San Francisco’s mayor that 1-person limit on church attendance is unconstitutional
Though San Francisco plans to loosen the rules for churches on Wednesday, allowing indoor services to 25% of capacity, max of 50 people and a max of 100 for outdoor services, many wonder if the city is applying these restrictions to other similar outdoor gatherings, say Black Lives Matter protests?
RELATED: Idaho Police Arrest 3 at Outdoor Church Worship Event in Defiance of Mask Mandate
