Some California churches hold indoor services after ruling
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some California churches opened their doors to worshippers on Sunday, after the state revised its guidelines for houses of prayer following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lifted a ban on indoor services during the coronavirus pandemic.
“This morning we declare that this house will be a house of freedom,” announced Pastor Brittany Koopman at Harvest Rock Church near Los Angeles, one of the churches that sued the state over the ban. She led a socially distanced indoor crowd in prayer before Sunday’s service, which was also streamed online.
In the most significant legal victory against California’s COVID-19 health orders, the high court issued rulings late Friday in two cases where churches argued the restrictions violated their religious liberty. The justices said for now California can’t continue with a ban on indoor church services, but it can limit attendance to 25% of a building’s capacity and restrict singing and chanting inside.
The court was acting on emergency requests to halt the restrictions from Pasadena-based Harvest Rock and Harvest International Ministry, which has more than 160 churches across the state, along with South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista.
Che Ahn, Harvest Rock’s senior pastor, told his congregation that the church would defy the ban on singing. California had put the rules in place because the virus is more easily transmitted indoors and singing releases tiny droplets that can carry the disease.
“Fifty percent of worship is singing. We’re gonna sing no matter what,” Ahn said at the beginning of the service Sunday. He thanked the Supreme Court and said his lawyers would continue to petition for the right to sing during indoor services. The church argued the state was unfairly restricting churches while allowing the entertainment industry to film TV singing competitions.
Worshippers without masks could be seen on the livestream raising their arms and singing out loud. It wasn’t clear how many people were inside the church, which seats hundreds.
Ahn called the state rules “draconian” and urged his congregants to sign a petition to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The governor’s office on Saturday issued new guidelines that limit attendance at indoor services in areas of the state with widespread or substantial virus spread to 25% of a building’s capacity. Indoor services in areas with moderate to minimum spread are limited to 50% capacity.
“We will continue to enforce the restrictions the Supreme Court left in place and, after reviewing the decision, we will issue revised guidelines for worship services to continue to protect the lives of Californians,” the governor’s press secretary, Daniel Lopez, said in Saturday’s statement.
Before the ruling, indoor worship services were banned in purple- tiered counties — those deemed to be at widespread risk of coronavirus transmission. This tier accounts for the vast majority of the state.