Calif. Church Sues For Right to Worship During Pandemic

A Pasadena church has filed a lawsuit against Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, over the right to worship during the pandemic. According to the church, the governor’s order prohibiting indoor worship services is unconstitutional. Now, the church seeks an injunction baring this restriction from taking effect.

Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministries have joined the ranks of numerous California faith organizations who have taken issue with the governor’s recent determination that worship could no longer be held indoors.

After California experienced a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, the governor determined that businesses across 30 counties which were briefly allowed to be open must close indoors again. Businesses forced to close include not only churches, but also restaurants, bars, family entertainment centers, zoos, museums, and others.

In counties other than the 30 most-populous counties, the governor drastically restricted worship gatherings, states Harvest Rock. In their eyes, the ban is akin to oppression.

Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mathew D. Staver released a statement echoing these views, saying “such repression is well-known in despotic governments, and it is shocking that even home fellowship is banned in America,” quotes Fox News. The Liberty Counsel is a non-profit aimed at promoting litigation in line with evangelical Christian values, and is representing Harvest Rock in its litigation against Gov. Newsom.

Harvest Rock Church has now called for an injunction, which would bar the governor’s ban from going into effect. The church argued that it was inconsistent for the governor to allow recent Black Lives Matter protests, but to prohibit communities from gathering in worship. Allegedly, “the governor explicitly encouraged such large gatherings of protesters while condemning churches for singing hymns in their churches.”

The COVID-19 right to worship lawsuit also points out further elements that the church sees as hypocritical in the governor’s orders.

The church notes that the governor’s order permits houses of worship to continue to provide social services, but does not allow worship services, even in the same building, and even with those same individuals receiving social services. According to Harvest Rock, violating these rules comes with threats of criminal sanctions against religious leaders. They stress that protesters were not threatened with similar action over their gatherings.

Che Ahn, lead paster of Harvest Rock Church, commented on the discrepancy between the treatment of churchgoers and the treatment of protesters. He stated “I just feel the hypocrisy of encouraging protests. We are all for that but let’s just be consistent.”

The Pasadena church asserts that the governor’s ban is unconstitutional, violating the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to worship and prohibits laws that prevent the free exercise of religion. To support the claim that an injunction should be granted that allows churches to gather again, Harvest Rock also cited other court decisions in which courts determined that similar restrictions were unconstitutional. 

The California right to worship restriction lawsuit notes that the governor’s ban closed all essential services, deeming church services inessential. Fox News quotes Ahn again, who to his congregation about the lawsuit, saying, “as a pastor, I believe we’ve been essential for 2,000 years.” 

Other courts have reportedly determined that the ban was unconstitutional because it was applied selectively, treating secular and sacred gatherings differently.

Harvest Rock cites a Sixth Circuit decision in which a North Carolina ban on services was deemed unconstitutional, in which the court stated that “there is no pandemic exception to the Constitution of the United States or the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”

Allegedly, this different treatment of religious groups and secular groups violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Establishment Clause, demonstrating hostility towards religious gatherings, which is prohibited under the Constitution. Additionally, the church claims that the ban violates the Guarantee Clause, because it represents an excessive use of executive authority in an unconstitutional manner. 

The church seeks damages for this violation, in addition to an injunction prohibiting the ban from continuing to be effective. 

How has the pandemic affected faith communities in your state? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry are represented by Niccolai Cocis of the Law Office of Nicolai Cocis, and by Mathew D. Staver, Horatio G. Mihet, Roger K. Gannam, and Daniel J. Schmid of the Liberty Counsel.

The Coronavirus Right To Worship Lawsuit is Harvest Rock Church Inc., et al. v. Gavin Newsom, Case No. 2:20-cv-06414-JFW-PJW, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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