Worship Service COVID-19 Restrictions Challenged By D.C. Church

UPDATE: On Oct. 9, 2020, Capitol Hill Baptist Church can move its outdoor worship services from Virginia back to its home in Washington, D.C., despite the district’s pandemic restrictions, a judge ruled.

A historic Evangelical church in Washington, D.C. is taking first-of-its-kind legal action against the city for continued COVID-19 restrictions on their worship services.

Capitol Hill Baptist Church claims Mayor Muriel Bowser’s coronavirus-related restrictions violate First and Fifth Amendment protections. 

Filed in D.C.’s U.S. District Court Tuesday, the lawsuit alleges “selective enforcement” of rules against large gatherings since the closures began in March. Six months later, church members contend the ban on worship services remain, despite similar gatherings being permitted. 

Capitol Hill Baptist joins several other churches in the area taking legal action against coronavirus-related closures. 

Washington, D.C. has implemented a phased reopening process during the pandemic. On May 27, “Phase 1” was started, according to the complaint. 

The church says Phase 1 allowed “certain activities” with low risks, including the opening up of barbershops and hair salons, with reduced capacity, but not worship services. 

Notably, according to the complaint, restaurants were allowed to reopen outside with “no limit on the number of people they could serve.” By September, 583 restaurants were reportedly operating in this way. The complaint adds social distancing guidelines with these restaurants were enforced differently, allowing 4 feet between tables instead of 6. 

Churches began gathering for worship services outside of the D.C. area during this time, DCist reports, but with modifications, including requiring reservations. 

While other religious organizations have moved their worship services to an online format during the pandemic, Capitol Hill Baptist Church “believes that a central part of following Christ is worshipping together in the same physical space.”

“A video of a sermon is not a substitute for a covenanted congregation assembling together,” Capitol Hill Baptist Pastor Mark Dever said in the complaint. 

On June 22 Mayor Bowser began Phase 2, slowly reopening certain businesses with restrictions. Indoor dining, childcare centers and gyms could operate but at lowered capacity and with social distancing. 

Indoor gatherings at this phase are limited to 100 people at most or 50% of the space’s capacity, whichever is fewer. This included restaurants, barbershops, hair salons, summer camps and childcare centers, according to church members. 

The plaintiffs allege Mayor Bower discriminates against worship services because she allowed and even “coordinated” massive social demonstrations in the city despite these Phase 2 rules. 

Specifically, the complaint cites several mass demonstrations that took place in June. In one instance on June 6, Mayor Bowser reportedly stood before a crowd of “tens of thousands.”  

In each of these protests, the plaintiffs said, the city “facilitated” these events by closing down traffic. None of the participants were cited for violating social distancing guidelines, according to the complaint. 

Furthermore, the church cites Mayor Bowser’s assistance in organizing a mass demonstration in Washington. 

In July, the complaint alleges that she “issued guidance for persons planning to attend the Commitment March” but did “not reference … Phase Two restrictions on mass gatherings or indicate that the Commitment March would be subject to these restrictions.”  

The lawsuit describes how the church attempted to get a waiver on worship services with expanded capacity multiple times but were denied. 

In June, the church believed they could hold their worship services outside similar to how restaurants were doing. The church says they never heard back from Mayor Bowser’s office until they filed the waiver request again in September. 

At that point, the church was willing to relocate worship services to an outdoor space near RFK Stadium. That request was eventually denied on Sept. 15. 

Capitol Hill Baptist Church members claim Mayor Bowser has created a “de facto exemption” for the mass demonstrations held in the city as a result. 

This “diminishes the credibility of the government’s rationale for restricting speech in the first place,” according to the lawsuit. 

The Capitol Hill Baptist members maintain they respect the right to protest, however.

“The Church takes no issue with Defendants’ decision to permit these gatherings, which are themselves protected by the First Amendment, and the Church supports this exercise of First Amendment rights. The Church does, however, take exception to Defendants’ decision to favor certain expressive gatherings over others.”

Capitol Hill Baptist Church has some 850 members, according to The Washington Post and has been holding continuous worship services for 142 years except during the 1918 flu pandemic. 

Do you live in a community that has prohibited worship services due to the coronavirus? Let us know in the comments below. 

Counsel representing the plaintiffs in this case are Matthew T. Martens, Kevin Gallagher, Matthew E. Vigeant, Andrew Miller, Kevin Palmer of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP; Hiram S. Sasser, III of First Liberty Institute.

The Worship Service Lawsuit is Capitol Hill Baptist Church v. Bowser, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02710, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. 

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