Essential services?

With New York City engulfed by the coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday pleaded with congregations not to gather for worship—and threatened severe repercussions if they did.

“If you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services,” he warned. “If that does not happen, they will take additional action up to the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently.”

Across the country, some churches have begun to push back against social distancing and stay-at-home orders, saying they can observe the same precautions as essential businesses like grocery stores and pharmacies, which are allowed to stay open. And unlike many commercial businesses, churches can point to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for protection from government interference. Some religious liberty law firms are taking a stand for those who think stay-at-home mandates go too far, especially orders that single out churches.

Liberty Counsel represents Rodney Howard-Browne, a Tampa, Fla., pastor arrested for holding church services despite his county’s social distancing order. When Howard-Browne’s church met Sunday, it made family groups stay 6 feet apart in the auditorium, had staff members wear gloves, gave each attendee hand sanitizer, and used a $100,000 air purifying system.

“The order allows a wide range of commercial operations that are either specifically exempt or exempt if they can comply with a 6-foot separation,” Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver said. “Yet, if the purpose of your meeting is religious, the county prohibits it with no exception for the 6-foot separation.”

Howard-Browne plans to fight the charges on religious liberty grounds.

Last week in McKinney, Texas, city officials quickly amended their stay-at-home order after a warning letter from another religious liberty law firm, First Liberty. The McKinney rule, enacted Wednesday, prohibited religious services except by video or teleconference and blocked more than 10 people from gathering to make those happen. A flyer distributed by the city implied that even two people gathered for worship could violate the order.

First Liberty counsel Mike Berry wrote to Mayor George Fuller pointing out the order violated federal and state law by singling out religious services for special restrictions not applicable to other organizations. The order penalized small churches and shut down innovative solutions like drive-in services, Berry wrote. Within hours, McKinney city officials amended the policy to allow religious services not only by video or teleconference but also by other means that comply with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for social distancing.

“Let’s not forget—our Constitution was written during a time of crisis, when there was a lot of fear and uncertainty, so if anyone understood the need to balance public welfare and safety with constitutional rights and freedoms, it was the framers,” Berry said.

The fact that religious groups might still have the right to gather during a pandemic does not necessarily mean they should, some Christian leaders have said.

“Christians, given the commandments of love of God and love of neighbor, have ample justification right now to follow the orders, demands, and requests of lawful government not to assemble, along with other assemblies not assembling, until it is safe for us to assemble once again,” said Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Seminary and a WORLD News Group board member.

Still, threats like the one de Blasio made go too far, Mohler said: “It’s one thing in a generally applicable principle, to say, ‘You can’t meet because no assembly can meet for some defined time under a necessary and legitimate threat.’ It’s quite a different thing to say, ‘If you violate this order, we will confiscate your building and shut down your services permanently.’”