Don’t rush

I was dismayed with the recent court decision regarding houses of worship to be exempt from limited gatherings. The time is not right for this decision.

There are those who contend the Supreme Court is “above politics.” That is probably true in many cases, maybe most, but it is not always that idealistic. It seems the crux of this Supreme Court decision is freedom of religion and freedom of assembly. My right-leaning friends will herald this recent decision.

But there are a number of major Supreme Court decisions that have been passed down as a result of a changing political and social climate.

Why was Brown v. Board of Education passed in the 1950s and not in the 1890s when the Plessy v. Ferguson decision was handed down? Sadly the political climate in the 1890s was not ready for integration.

Similarly, Roe v. Wade, handed down in the 1970s, could not have been issued even a generation earlier.

Don’t get me wrong — I am a believer, and I sorely miss my Sunday morning church service and the fellowship it offers me. YouTube is OK but watching a sermon on my computer is not the same as being in the sanctuary. I do long for the time when I once again can congregate in person with my pastor, the choir, and the acquaintances I sit with in the pews. But the time is not right.

If our houses of worship embrace the recent Supreme Court decision and attempt to get back to “normal” too soon, our religious leaders will be officiating at more funerals than weddings — none of us desire that.

The time is not right.

Maury Neville, Chesapeake