Supreme Court Rules Against Church

Supreme Court denies Calvary Chapel church in Nevada its Constitutional rights in 5-4 decision. Religious freedom increasingly at risk. Here’s the story — and a link to the actual decision and the dissents.

joelcrosenberg

When Americans vote in November to elect the President, Senate and House of Representatives, the future of religious freedom is going to be a major issue on the ballot.

The next President is likely to have at least one, and possibly two, seats to fill on the Supreme Court. Will they be filled by liberals or conservatives? The freedom of Christians, Jews, Muslims and others to maintain their Constitutional rights to freely practice their faith increasingly appears to hang in the balance.

Consider the latest outrageous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It denied a Calvary Chapel evangelical church in Nevada to have more than 50 people meet together for worship and Bible teaching, even though gambling casinos in the state are allowed to welcome many more than 50 people into their establishments.

How is that possible?

“A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court denied a rural Nevada church’s request late Friday to strike down as unconstitutional a 50-person cap on worship services as part of the state’s ongoing response to the coronavirus,” reported the Associated Press. 

“In a 5-4 decision, the high court refused to grant the request from the Christian church east of Reno to be subjected to the same COVID-19 restrictions in Nevada that allow casinos, restaurants and other businesses to operate at 50% of capacity with proper social distancing,” noted the AP. “Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley argued that the hard cap on religious gatherings was an unconstitutional violation of its parishioners’ First Amendment rights to express and exercise their beliefs.”

Four brave Justices dissented from the ridiculous decision, siding with the Calvary Chapel. They included Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas and Kavanaugh.

Justice Alito was absolutely right when he wrote, “The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. It says nothing about the freedom to play craps, or blackjack, [or] feed tokens into a slot machine.”

Likewise, Justice Gorsuch was dead on correct when he wrote, “The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesar Palace over Calvary Chapel.”