you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]NorfolkTerrier 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I can't believe none of these restrictions on religion have been struck down yet. Free exercise + freedom of assembly, should be open and shut. Yet states ordered churches shut while liquor stores and abortion clinics were ruled "essential," and even now they can come up with whatever ridiculous restrictions they want and no one does anything about it.

My church (not in CA) reopened last Sunday and it was honestly bad enough with all the self-imposed restrictions our board came up with. Can't imagine how much worse it would be with government meddling.

[–]Fuckyoucensorship 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Was your church prevented from holding online meetings? I'm assuming it wasn't and I refuse to believe no one in the entirety of your church understands how to work a computer in this day and age. Seeing as you're here that makes at least 1.

Also is your argument that church is "essential" if so how? What can't it do online that it can do in person? Is it giving out food? Water? Shelter? And if you want to argue that it is an essential business then it should revoke all rights it has as a religious Institute and operate as a buisness.

I'm not saying abortion is essential mind you. Nor am I saying liquor is, however claiming church is "essential" and has a right to meet despite what was going on is hilarious as there is no reason you can't hold church over the computer. Televangelists, radio evangelists and pastor's put their messages up on youtube all the time.

[–]NorfolkTerrier 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A lot of low-income elderly people are frequent churchgoers, and they don't always have internet or computers. Many churches also minister to the homeless and other vulnerable communities, again many of which do not have a way to view online services. Saying "just use the computer lol" isn't going to cut it for everyone.

Personally I don't think watching a video is the same as going to church anyway, the in-person participatory aspect is key to worship. That's setting aside direct community aid like you mentioned. It's okay if you disagree, but it shouldn't matter what we think, since the First Amendment guarantees freedom of assembly and religious exercise. If the government can decide that letting people watch a Facebook stream counts as fulfilling the obligation to religious freedom, I'm not sure religious freedom means anything at all. You could shut it down for any reason at that point.

For the record I don't think it's the government's job to shut down liquor stores either. Just pointing out how skewed the priorities have gotten. I also think churches should take precautions that are appropriate for them.