Churches a legal and regulatory battleground during pandemic as CDC and Supreme Court weigh in - Entrepreneur Generations

Churches continue to serve as a legal and regulatory battleground during the pandemic as contention over free speech and public health concerns collide.

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that states still retain some power to regulate how many people are allowed to gather in churches during a pandemic, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court's liberal minority in a 5-4 vote, Adam Liptak reports for The New York Times.

South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, sued to block the state from enforcing restrictions on attendance at religious services, alleging that their freedom of speech was being violated. However, Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that churches were not being unfairly singled out, since non-essential secular gatherings have also been restricted, Liptak reports.

"The court’s ruling was its first attempt to balance the public health crisis against the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom," Liptak reports. "And it expanded the Supreme Court’s engagement with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, after rulings on voting in Wisconsin and prisons in Texas and Ohio."

Meanwhile, on Saturday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed language from its pandemic guidelines for faith communities that encouraged them to consider decreasing or halting singing since it can spread the coronavirus through aerosols. "The altered guidance also deleted a reference to 'shared cups' among items, including hymnals and worship rugs, that should not be shared. The updated guidelines also added language that said the guidance 'is not intended to infringe on rights protected by the First Amendment, '"Lena Sun and Josh Dawsey report for The Washington Post.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2Xkpey2 Churches a legal and regulatory battleground during pandemic as CDC and Supreme Court weigh in - Entrepreneur Generations

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