Montreal church fined for hosting Christian singer

The Democracy Fund has taken on the legal defence of the Montreal church fined for having U.S. Christian singer Sean Feucht perform at one of its services. 

Montreal church fined for worship service; TDF takes on legal defence | The Democracy Fund (news release):

Sean Feucht in 2021.  Photo by
Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons.

July 28, 2025 - "The Democracy Fund [TDF] has stepped in to represent Ministerios Restauración/Église MR — the Montreal church at which US-based artist Sean Feucht worshipped on July 25, 2025. 

"Ministerios Restauracion Church was issued a ticket with a fine in the amount of $2,500 for engaging in Christian worship at a Friday service. 

"Video shows police entering the Church before or during the worship service. Later, protesters attempted to forcefully shut it down.

"Feucht, a Christian musician and activist known for leading large outdoor worship events across the U.S., was in Montreal as part of a Canadian visit. His presence drew criticism from local activist groups.

"Officials accused the Church of violating municipal bylaws related to event permits or zoning. However, no such regulations prohibit regular worship gatherings.

"TDF litigation director, Mark Joseph, said:

 'Freedom of religion is a fundamental freedom under s.2(a) of the Charter: you do not need permission or a permit from the government to worship at a church in Canada. It is absurd to suggest otherwise, and it risks setting a dangerous precedent that will extend to all religions. TDF and its lawyers intend to fight this matter and are eager to respond to this obvious Charter infringement in court.'....

"Legal fees are expected to be sizable in this case, but TDF is committed to supporting religious freedom for all Canadians. We will need your help to defend the Ministerios Restauración Church: please consider making a charitable donation to TDF. 

"Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund (TDF) is a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education, and relieving poverty. TDF promotes constitutional rights through litigation and public education and supports an access to justice initiative for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed by government lockdowns and other public policy responses to the pandemic."

Read more (or donate) here: https://www.thedemocracyfund.ca/montreal_church_fined_for_worship_service_tdf_takes_legal_action

Prayer ban story is misinformation, says Blair

Defence Minister Bill Blair is calling the story of a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) directive allegedly banning public prayer by its chaplains Conservative-spread misinformation, while the Epoch Times (which broke the story) now reports that chaplains are leaving the CAF in response to it. 

Minister Blair Says Tories Spreading ‘Misinformation’ on New Military Chaplain Directive on Prayer | Epoch Times | Noé Chartier:

October 20, 2023 - "Defence Minister Bill Blair says the Conservative Party is spreading “misinformation” by saying military chaplains are no longer allowed to say prayers during public functions. 'Let’s be very clear: [Canadian Forces] chaplains are not – and will not be – banned from prayer on Remembrance Day, nor at any other time,” Mr. Blair wrote on X on Oct. 19. 'When the Conservatives spread misinformation about our military, we’ll always call it out.'

"The minister was reacting to an Oct. 18 social media post by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre saying the government is banning military chaplains from praying at Remembrance Day ceremonies. 'Our veterans don’t have a prayer under Trudeau,' Mr. Poilievre said.

"The Epoch Times previously reported exclusively on the new directive ... from the Office of the Chaplain General in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). The previous directive, in place since 2013 and titled 'Public Prayer at Military Ceremonies,' gave guidelines on how chaplains should conduct prayers, while giving further instructions for inclusion. 'The chaplain shall preface the prayer with remarks that invite those who, for whatever reason, are not disposed to pray, to use that time for silent personal reflection or contemplation as others pray,' it reads.

"The new directive, titled 'Chaplains’ Spiritual Reflection in Public Settings,' doesn’t say that chaplains are allowed to lead prayers, but only 'reflections'. 'While the dimension of prayer may occupy a significant place for some of our members, we do not all pray in the same way; for some, prayer does not play a role in their lives,' says the Oct. 11 directive signed by the Chaplain General, Brigadier-General Guy Belisle. 'Public reflections must be done in an appropriate manner to engage all those gathered.' It adds that chaplains need to adopt a 'sensitive and inclusive' approach when addressing CAF members in public'....

"The new directive quotes from a 2015 Supreme Court opinion, which ruled that a city council in Quebec shouldn’t recite a Christian prayer before meetings in order to protect the religious neutrality of the state. The court 'set a strict standard for religious neutrality by the state, which the [Royal Canadian Chaplain Service] has a legal obligation to abide by,' says the directive. 'This requirement is aligned with the principle of inclusion that is paramount within the CAF.'"
Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/blair-says-tories-spreading-misinformation-on-new-military-chaplain-directive-on-prayer-5513779

Leaked Email Says Chaplains Leaving Military After New Religious Prayer Prohibitions | Epoch Times | Noé Chartier:

October 20, 2023 - "Some military chaplains are leaving the Canadian Armed Forces following a new directive on public prayer, says an internal email sent by a military officer obtained by The Epoch Times. The directive forbids the use of words such as 'God' and 'Heavenly Father,' which active-duty chaplains say in effect means prayers are forbidden. 

"The Oct. 19 email was sent by a mid-level officer in personnel management with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to wing commanders and other RCAF 'enior leaders across the country following the rollout of the new directive on Oct. 11. In the email, the officer said she had been “informed that the CA is noticing the release of some Chaplains based on this directive.' 'CA' is likely an acronym for 'Canadian Army.' 'If anyone has noticed a similar trend, please share your findings as it may be worth a discussion,” wrote the officer on Oct. 19.... 

"Three serving chaplains have told The Epoch Times that to their understanding, the restrictions in the new policy in effect mean that prayers are banned during official ceremonies such [as] Remembrance Day and mess dinners. The chaplains spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals."
Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/leaked-email-says-chaplains-leaving-military-after-new-religious-prayer-prohibitions-5514285

Canadian military kills Remembrance Day prayers

As part of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, the Canadian military has instructed its chaplains to eliminate prayers and references to God in this year's Remembrance Day commemorations. 

Remembrance Day 2017 in Ottawa. Photo by Benoit Rochon. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. 

No More Prayers on Remembrance Day, Military Tells Chaplain Service | Epoch Times | Noé Chartier:

October 16, 2023 - "Canadians about to attend Remembrance Day ceremonies across the country could come across different proceedings than they’re used to, as the military has told its chaplain service that religious prayers in official public functions are now forbidden. 'While the dimension of prayer may occupy a significant place for some of our members, we do not all pray in the same way; for some, prayer does not play a role in their lives,' says the Oct. 11 directive obtained by The Epoch Times. 'Therefore, it is essential for chaplains to adopt a sensitive and inclusive approach when publicly addressing military members,' says the directive signed by Chaplain General Brigadier General Guy Belisle.

"In practice, this means that a chaplain, or padre as they’re commonly known in the ranks, cannot recite from the Bible or allude to God while participating in ceremonies and public functions. Instead, the 'spiritual reflection' must be “inclusive in nature, and respectful of the religious and spiritual diversity of Canada.' The move is part of the larger cultural change process in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) implemented by the Liberal government, which aims to put principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the core of the organization.

"For public reflections, the directive tells chaplains they must 'carefully choose words that are inclusive' and that they should use a language 'mindful of the Gender Based Analysis (GBA+).' This in effect tells chaplains to refrain from referring to a 'Heavenly Father'.... [T]he directives also will remove the traditional scarves chaplains wear, which bear the crests of their respective religions.... 'Chaplains must consider the potential that some items or symbols may cause discomfort or traumatic feelings when choosing the dress they wear during public occasions,' says the directive. The Faith Tradition crests will be replaced by the crest of the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service (RCChS).

"The decision comes after the Minister of National Defence Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination released a report in January 2022 that was critical of religion in general. A section on the CAF chaplaincy said that 'religion can be a source of suffering and generational trauma,' especially for LGBT individuals and indigenous people. 'Some chaplains represent or are affiliated with organized religions whose beliefs are not synonymous with those of a diverse and inclusive workplace,' it added....

"Brig. Gen. Belisle says the RCChS conducted an in-depth analysis of a Supreme Court decision from 2015. The directive cites Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay (City), which pertains to a self-proclaimed atheist complaining about the Saguenay city council reciting a prayer before meetings. 'The evolution of Canadian society has given rise to a concept of neutrality according to which the state must not interfere in religion and beliefs,' wrote the Supreme Court. 'The state must instead remain neutral in this regard, which means that it must neither favour nor hinder any particular belief, and the same holds true for non-belief.' 

"Brig. Gen. Belisle’s directive says the policy will be enforced through education in vocational school and by taking disciplinary action against chaplains who do not comply with the directive. This includes withdrawal from the CAF chaplaincy.

"Department of National Defence spokesperson Derek Abma says the directive does not apply to other non-official settings. 'In a chapel, chaplains may always offer prayer consistent with their own spiritual and faith traditions,' he told The Epoch Times in a statement.... Mr. Abma did not deny that religious prayers are now forbidden on events such as Remembrance Day....

"An active military chaplain who requested anonymity to avoid reprisals told The Epoch Times that the new policy is a violation of a covenant Canadians have with the war dead. He says he thinks Canadians would not want to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony in which our dead are not honoured in prayer.... 'We have a covenant with the dead,' he said. 'Most of those who fought in the Great Wars did so for God and country, and deserve to be honoured in that way. This new policy is first and foremost a violation of that covenant.'"

Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/no-more-prayers-on-remembrance-day-military-tells-chaplain-service-5511240

Sikh guards lose jobs over Toronto mask policy

Sikh security guards dismissed from jobs at City of Toronto sites over facial hair policy | BlogTO - Lauren O'Neil: 

Tejinder Singh Sidhu, World Sikh Organization

July 4, 2022 - "More than 100 Sikh security guards who, until very recently, were stationed at City of Toronto properties, have been laid off, relocated or demoted to lower-ranking positions for having too much facial hair. The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) issued a release Monday morning calling upon Mayor John Tory and City Council to lift a new clean shave requirement, specifically for Sikh employees 'who maintain uncut hair as a tenet of their faith.'

"'The new City of Toronto mandate requires all security guards to be fitted for N95 respirators that seal directly on the face. Facial hair is not permitted when performing fit tests,' explains the organization, which contends that the policy results in 'the exclusion of Sikh security guards' from city-owned sites. 

"Strangely, says the WSO, non-security staff at these same sites have not been asked to shave. The City of Toronto explains this by pointing out that its policy does not apply to city staff, only contractors. Pretty much all of the security guards working at city sites are not actually working for the city, but for private companies that rent out security services... 

"'Under City policy, all contractors must agree to abide by the City's Human Rights and Anti-Harassment/Discrimination Policy (HRAP) and applicable human rights legislation, and make a declaration to confirm compliance with these requirements," reads a statement from the city sent to blogTO. 'The City is reviewing the complaint which alleges that certain contractors failed to accommodate their own employees in relation to the City's Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) division's requirement for the use of N-95 masks for all staff and contractors who may come into contact with any person who has or is suspected of having COVID-19.' 

 "The SSHA divison's policy requires that anyone who may have to use an N-95 mask must be clean shaven for fit testing. 'This is consistent with the City's Respirator Protection policy for all City divisions with situations in which respiratory protective devices may be required. SSHA's policy allows for accommodations as per the City's Accommodation policy," notes the city. "Employees of contractors who seek accommodation should have their requests assessed, in accordance with the contractors own human rights policies'.... As for what's next, the city says that it has its own standardized process for addressing complaints about contractors, 'which requires contractors to review and respond to the complaint under the contractor's appropriate internal process.' 

"WSO president Tejinder Singh Sidhu doesn't seem keen to wait around for the city to process and review everything — a task which often takes months, if not years. 'It is completely unreasonable that Sikh security guards who served in their positions at the City of Toronto through the height of the pandemic are now being terminated, reassigned, or demoted for not being clean-shaven,' he said in a statement. 'Mayor John Tory and the City of Toronto must find a solution for these Sikh security guards and other affected employees. Those Sikh guards who have been removed must be immediately reinstated." 

Read more: https://www.blogto.com/city/2022/07/sikh-security-guards-toronto-beard-policy/

Toronto to accommodate, compensate Sikh security guards laid off over facial hair | Global News - Maan Alhmidi, Canadian Press: 

July 5, 2022 - "Sikh security guards removed from their positions in Toronto due to a conflict over facial hair required by their religion and COVID-19 masking rules will be rehired and compensated for their lost hours. The World Sikh Organization had complained to the city last month on behalf of more than 100 Sikh security guards, who it said were required to wear N95 masks sealed directly to the face — a rule that wouldn’t allow for facial hair. 

 "The city said Tuesday that it had directed its security contractors to accommodate and rehire Sikh employees who were removed from their positions and appropriately compensate them for any financial impact. 'The city will not accept any contractors failing to accommodate religious freedoms,' it wrote in a statement. The city also said it apologizes to the World Sikh Organization for any delay in addressing the issue.... 

 "Singh said the city also agreed to a suggestion from the organization to introduce a technique called 'under masking' to help accommodate Sikh employees. The technique involves using a cloth or latex mask over facial hair before covering that mask with an N95. 'It’s been scientifically proven to form an effective seal,' Singh said." 

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/8968799/toronto-to-accommodate-compensate-sikh-security-guards/

SCOTUS gets school funding decision right

Overlooked in the controversy over their overturning of Roe v. Wade was another SCOTUS decision that will also have a great impact on children in the future.

The Death of Separationism and the Life of School Choice | Law & Liberty - John O. McGinnis:

June 23, 2022 - "In a Supreme Court term of many consequential decisions, Carson v. Makin stands out for its likely enduring legal and political effects. In Carson, which was handed down on Tuesday, the Court held that Maine could not prevent parents from using its tuition assistance for rural residents at sectarian religious schools. As Chief Justice Roberts said, a 'State need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.'

"The case is the culmination of a series of rulings in which the Roberts Court has held unconstitutional any condition that withholds generally available state aid from religious institutions. Previous cases had prevented aid from being withheld on the basis of the religious identity of the institution. This case extends that principle to prevent it from being withheld on the basis of the religious use to which the institution puts the tuition assistance — in this case to a school that includes religiously based instruction. The Free Exercise Clause requires neutrality between religious and nonreligious institutions and uses to which citizens can put their government-provided assistance.

"The doctrine of unconstitutional conditions is familiar across the breadth of constitutional law. A state, for instance, could not prevent citizens from using generally available tuition assistance for private schools on the basis of what a teacher said about the American Revolution, because that would be an unconstitutional condition on free speech. Carson makes clear that the doctrine of unconstitutional conditions is as applicable to Free Exercise as to other constitutional rights.  

"The broader significance of Carson v. Makin is that the Court has made it clear that the Free Exercise Clause will be treated like other rights and will not be limited by the nonoriginalist principle of Separation of Church and State.  The case ... spends little time quoting sources from the founding on the meaning of either the Free Exercise or Establishment Clause. It is nevertheless informed by the movement toward originalism, because what has historically distinguished the treatment of the Free Exercise Clause from other rights is a nonoriginalist view of the Establishment Clause, namely that it incorporates a broad and wooly principle of Separation of Church and State. And that view was itself sometimes supported by a faulty originalism, relying on a few snippets from founding era materials, like Thomas Jefferson’s 'wall of separation' comment in his reply to a letter from the Baptist Church in Danbury, Connecticut.  

"If the Constitution had indeed established a principle of complete separation, it is plausible that a state would have a compelling or at least substantial interest in preventing parents from using generally available aid at a religious school. Separationism would suggest that religious institutions and the state must have no connection. Separationism also animates the notion there must at least be some 'play in the joints' between the two Clauses, meaning that a state’s concern about the Establishment Clause could justify restrictions on the scope of Free Exercise rights.... But the Carson majority notably does not deploy the phrase, 'play in the joints.' The dissents by Justice Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor rely on that phrase a total of nine times between them. The dissents also expressly relied on separationism, while the majority dismissed any separationist concern. Thus, the meaning of the Establishment Clause is what ultimately divides the Court....

"Scholarship debunking the separation of church and state as the original principle lurking behind the Establishment Clause has been crucial to recent developments in the religion clauses, because it provides the background for Carson’s doctrinal moves. In particular, Philip Hamburger’s magisterial Separation of Church and State shows that there was very little opinion at the time of Framing that attached anything like this principle to the Establishment Clause. The use of the term by Thomas Jefferson (not of course a Framer) was extremely unusual. Instead, according to Hamburger, what animated the Establishment Clause was the concern of religious dissenters that they not suffer discrimination and that the state, as Hamburger puts it, not take 'cognizance' of religion by creating religious tests and putting other religiously infused requirements into law. Measured against this understanding of the meaning of 'establishment' and its dangers, Carson’s insistence that religious schools not be discriminated against in generally available programs is completely consistent with the Establishment Clause’s strictures. A program that is non-preferential between secular and any religious education hardly establishes a religion.... 

"Carson is not only important for what it does for Establishment Clause jurisprudence but what it does for the school choice movement. That movement already has political momentum. First, many public schools have been heavily criticized for closing for too long during the pandemic with substantial losses of learning, particularly for the poorest students. Second, many parents are furious with what their public schools are teaching, viewing commonly used history curricula in particular as tendentious and unpatriotic. Many also worry about an emphasis on equity over excellence. As a result, a parental rights movement is emerging as a powerful electoral force.

"School choice is the logical institutional manifestation of parental rights. A parent who can choose the school his or her child attends has more influence on the child’s education. At a traditional public school, a parent can only vote in a school board election, and once the school board is elected, he or she retains no substantial leverage at all. School choice provides the invaluable right of exit. Carson assures those who want to send their children to religious schools that religious choices can never be excluded from a choice program. Thus, it energizes parents who want a religious alternative to the traditional public school to join with parents who want alternatives for secular reasons. The ruling thus contributes even more energy to one of our most important contemporary social movements."

Read more: https://lawliberty.org/the-death-of-separationism-and-the-life-of-school-choice/

B.C. government drops fines against churches

Justice Centre successfully defends B.C. pastors against lockdown fines | True North -  Elie Cantin-Nantel:

May 17, 2022 - "The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has announced a legal win for three British Columbia pastors ticketed for defying lockdown orders during the pandemic. A total of 24 tickets – adding up to $55,200 – against Pastors John Koopman of the Chilliwack Free Reformed Church, James Butler of the Free Grace Baptist Church and Timothy Champ of the Valley Heights Community Church, have been dropped by the B.C. Crown. The pastors were fined following their non-compliance with provincial government restrictions imposed on Nov. 2020, which banned in-person religious services.... 

"Koopman received 23 tickets totalling $52,900, while Butler received 25 tickets totalling $57,500, and Champ received 18 tickets totalling $41,400. The recent victory amounted to seven tickets dropped against Koopman, 11 against Butler and six against Champ, for a total of 24. The JCCF said there remains over 20 outstanding tickets issued against pastors and churches in B.C.’s Fraser Valley. 'The Justice Centre will vigorously defend pastors and churches against these charges in future appearances in Provincial Court,' said the legal charity, adding that over four dozen tickets against B.C. churches they represent have now been dropped. 

"'All levels of government, including politicians, health officials and law enforcement, have the duty to respect the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians. In response to Covid, there has been a serious failure of government officials and authorities in BC to respect the Charter freedoms of BC residents,” said JCCF lawyer Marty Moore. Moore added that 'BC discriminated against houses of worship, prohibiting them from meeting for worship regardless of the safety measures they implemented.' While the B.C. government never shut down retail businesses during the first lockdown in the spring of 2020, it did impose restrictions on places of worship that were stricter than other provinces.

"Provincial politicians across Canada imposed restrictions on places of worship which some have said encroached on religious freedom – however many of those restrictions were capacity limits ... and not full closures as was the case in B.C. True North spoke to two northern B.C. pastors in December – Simon Lievaart of Bethel Reformed Church in Smithers and Andrew Simpson of the Heritage Free Presbyterian Church in Prince George – who defied public health orders including vaccine passports.... Other pastors across Canada also defied public health restrictions, including Pastor James Coates of Gracelife Church and Pastor Artur Pawlowski of the Cave of Adullam congregation in Alberta. In Ontario, Pastors Henry Hildebrandt of the Church of God in Aylmer, Aaron Rock of the Harvest Bible Church in Windsor and Jacob Reaume of the Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo opted not to comply with restrictions imposed by the Ford government.

"Throughout the pandemic, the JCCF has been representing people who were charged with breaking government Covid rules. The organization also represented the Freedom Convoy earlier this year."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2022/05/17/justice-centre-successfully-defends-b-c-pastors-against-lockdown-fines/

Andrew Lawton on church closings, Dec. 28, 2020:

American churches damaged by lockdowns

Lockdowns Had a Devastating Impact on Religion | Brownstone Institute - Dean Broyles:

Police barricade GraceLife Church, Alberta, April 2021. Photo: Baptist Press / CP / AP

April 1, 2022 - "The government’s unprecedented decision to essentially 'lock down' most of society and quarantine nearly everyone, including the healthy, and severely limit or ban religious gatherings at places of worship during the pandemic has inflicted significant collateral damage on religious individuals and religious institutions. Perhaps the most significant immediate impact of the pandemic on religious practices was the seismic shift from in-person group worship to virtual, online worship, as governments used their emergency powers to impose harsh restrictions, allegedly related to the public health. The long-term impacts of this coerced change are still being felt and the consequential damages are still being calculated.... 

"The dividing line between whether a particular business or institution could remain open and continue to operate was whether it was deemed 'essential' by the government. But why were places of worship not automatically deemed 'essential' in the United States, where we have at least two clauses in the First Amendment protecting religious liberty?... Yet, at the same time a myriad of secular government and business locations, not similarly protected by the Bill of Rights were, often, quite arbitrarily and capriciously declared 'essential,' including hardware stores, big box stores, marijuana dispensaries, liquor stores, and even strip clubs. Places of worship, however, were discriminatorily relegated by a host of petty tyrants, blatantly eschewing their constitutional responsibilities, to a lower caste....But for many, if not most of the faithful, regular in-person religious fellowship with other believers and worship of the Creator with others is, for them, as essential as the air they breathe, the water they drink or the food they eat. This is a spiritual reality that the materialistic secular state cannot, and will not, ever understand.... 

"Many so-called 'civil rights' organizations, including the leftist ACLU, were largely silent in the face of this blatantly and overreaching trampling of our civil rights and silencing of the lambs. But even in a culture trending in a post-religious direction, the impact of the coerced closures was deep and wide. Nearly 50 percent of the US population, who regularly participate in religious services, was impacted.... Gallup acknowledges that the halting of in-person worship during the pandemic 'is one of the most significant sudden disruptions in the practice of religion in U.S. history'.... For Catholics and Protestant Christians, for example, holy communion was indefinitely suspended and weddings and baptisms were delayed. In some states, religious leaders were even forbidden from visiting and praying with the lonely, sick, and dying....

"Many Christian pastors argued that the government mandates were 'unjust laws'.... More than 2,000 bold and courageous pastors in California signed the declaration of essentiality, committing to open church doors by Pentecost Sunday (May 31, 2020), with or without government permission. Places of worship started filing civil rights lawsuits alleging the government’s mandates violated the First Amendment to the US Constitution, specifically the rights guaranteed by the religious Free Exercise Clause, the Free Speech Clause and the right to Peaceable Assembly. But even as churches were allowed to start reopening in late spring 2020, states continued to treat them more harshly than secular locations.... California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, for example, was the only governor in the US to impose a ban on indoor singing and chanting at places of worship. In the Golden State, places of worship did not have the sympathy of the federal judiciary. In fact, places of worship lost every single case in the federal district courts, at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and even at the US Supreme Court during the first eight months of the pandemic. 

"Good public policy always weighs the costs of a course of action compared to its benefits. Yet there is strong evidence that closing churches likely caused more public health harm than good.... Sociologists have confirmed that religion is a major social institution that can serve to significantly integrate society and provide a positive stabilizing force in culture. In fact, there is more than 50 years of peer-reviewed scientific research documenting the enormous public health benefits of regular attendance at places of worship. These established public health benefits, completely ignored by many governments’ virus 'risk' analysis, include, but are not limited to, reduced stress, less risk of depression and suicide, fewer deaths of despair, better sleep, lower blood pressure, fewer instances of substance abuse, stronger marriages, lower mortality (including fewer deaths from heart disease and cancer), better immune function and lower risk of viral infection. The overall healthy lifestyle of regular church attenders provides them with a lower risk profile for health complications and death from Covid-19. Sadly, public health officials and judges deciding church-state cases largely ignored this powerful evidence. The indefinite lockdowns and bans on religious services at places of worship likely undermined these well-established public health benefits and probably led to collateral harms to public health, including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, suicide, and other deaths of despair.... 

"The discriminatory restrictions on religious gatherings in some locations were so overbearing that on August 20, 2020, the US Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom issued a COVID-19 and Religious Minorities Statement, co-signed by 18 nations. The statement cautioned, 'States should not limit the freedom to manifest religion or belief to protect public health past the point necessary, or close places of worship in a discriminatory manner'.... Yet this important and timely international warning did not slow down or stop California state officials who, in federal court filings, continued to repeatedly scapegoat and demonize places of worship as virus 'super-spreaders'.... Fortunately, the Government’s unscientific 'super-spreader' myth epically failed and was ultimately ignored and rejected by a majority of the US Supreme Court (in multiple rulings) as a baseless excuse for targeting places of worship for government-sanctioned discrimination.

"Finally, in April 2021 the last holdout anti-church state, California, [waved] the white flag, removing its mandatory capacity limits and indoor religious singing and chanting ban. Governor Newsom agreed to statewide permanent injunctions against his sweeping restrictions on places of worship, paying out millions in dollars in attorney’s fees to dismiss civil rights lawsuits. But the damage had already been done. The collateral damage to people of faith and places of worship is significant and is still being calculated. It may take many years to understand the full impact of foolish public health policies. 

"Damage to religious individuals has been significant. Believers struggling with anxiety, depression and hopelessness during the pandemic were physically and emotionally cut off from their faithful community and spiritual support systems.... Those needing counseling, encouragement, and prayer couldn’t access other believers and religious leaders. Pastors report seeing more suicides, drug overdoses, and deaths of despair. As Johns Hopkins notes, participation in religious communities is associated with lower suicide rates. The closure of churches contributed to social isolation and possible higher suicide rates.... 

"[T]he profound damage to religious institutions is also quite remarkable. Charitable giving at many places of worship dropped precipitously during the pandemic. Many churches took government PPE funds to help weather the financial storm, but those funds only lasted for so long. A significant number of places of worship divided and some split over how to best faithfully respond to the pandemic. Some that have reopened have seen a 50 percent or more decline in attendance and charitable giving as people found it more comfortable and convenient to participate digitally, rather than gathering in-person.  

"As of March 2021, Pew Research said that past regular attenders at places of worship reported that 17 percent of their churches remained closed and only 12 percent reported their churches were operating as usual. Only 58 percent were attending religious services in-person and 65 percent were still participating online. Before the pandemic in 2019, more churches closed than opened in the United States (4,500 vs. 3,000) because of shrinking church membership, representing a 1.4 percent decline. Those numbers are expected to accelerate and double or triple in the wake of the pandemic. Some places of worship that closed early in the pandemic will never reopen.... 

"Undoubtedly, it will likely take years to arrive at accurate conclusions regarding the long-term impacts the government’s overreaching pandemic response has had on religious individuals and institutions. We can even now affirm some important basic truths and lessons. First, religion is essential for millions of Americans. Second, in-person religious worship is much better and is much more spiritually effective than is virtual worship. Third, we must never allow fundamental constitutional rights, including religious freedom, to be suspended by a virus. Fourth, public health considerations must take into account the positive dynamics of religion and must always respect religious freedom. Fifth, public health decisions must always carefully take into account the collateral damage of its policies, including on religious institutions and people of faith." 

Read more: https://brownstone.org/articles/lockdowns-had-a-devastating-impact-on-religion/

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Third pastor arrested in Alberta

Calgary pastor arrested after breaking pandemic gathering rules for months | CBC News - Sarah Reiger: 

May 16, 2021 - "The pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in southeast Calgary has been arrested after months of encouraging congregants to break COVID-19-related public health rules. Pastor Tim Stephens is just one of a number of people arrested and/or charged in the past few weeks in Alberta after the United Conservative government brought in new protocols in early May to increase enforcement against COVID rule-breakers.... The heightened enforcement comes 14 months into the pandemic and after weeks of Alberta having the highest number of active cases per capita in Canada. 

"Police said Stephens was arrested for organizing a church service on Sunday at Fairview Baptist Church, in violation of a Court of Queen's Bench Order that requires organizers of events to comply with public health restrictions. Stephens was proactively served last week with a copy of the court order, which was obtained by Alberta Health Services.

"Police said AHS had been attempting for weeks to work with the church to address the ongoing public health concerns at the site.... Stephens has previously been fined and ticketed for defying public health regulations by holding over-capacity gatherings and not enforcing mask use. Churches are currently limited to a maximum occupancy of 15 people, in order to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Alberta.... There have been multiple outbreaks at churches around the province during the COVID-19 pandemic, but only one church outbreak is currently active.

"'Restricting the church to 15 people — which essentially restricts the church from gathering — is against the will of Christ and against the conscience of many who desire to worship the Lord of glory according to his word,' Stephens wrote in a blog post following the updated restrictions earlier this month, add[ing] that he planned to continue to flout public safety laws.

"Since Alberta has seen increased enforcement against COVID-19 rule-breakers this month, those arrested and/or charged include:

• [Pastor] Artur and Dawid Pawlowski, two organizers of a Calgary church service who have been defying public health restrictions throughout the pandemic.
• Kevin J. Johnston, a Calgary mayoral candidate who's under a restraining order after threatening to arm himself and go to the homes of health workers.
• Chris Scott, the owner of the Whistle Stop Café in Mirror, and some of his supporters, who continued to defy public health orders.
• Ty and Gail Northcott, the organizers of a rodeo held to protest COVID-19 restrictions near Bowden.

"As well, Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church in the Edmonton-area has been on trial in May after officials said he repeatedly held in-person church services that ignored measures on capacity limits, physical distancing and masking."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/tim-stephens-fairview-baptist-church-arrest-1.6029078

Second Alberta pastor arrested

Notley applauds police arrests as two leading COVID protesters ‘cuffed and hauled away | Western Standard - Dave Naylor:

May 8, 2021 - "Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley is praising police in the province who arrested two of the biggest organizers of COVID-19 lockdown protests. 

"In Calgary, Pastor Art Pawlowski was stopped in the middle of 17 Ave. S.E., handcuffed as he knelt on the street and dragged away, when he refused to stand. His son, Dawid, received the same treatment [see video].

[This is the second arrest of a pastor in Alberta. Edmonton pastot James Coates was arrested in February and jailed for over 30 days. - gd]

"In Mirror, 50 km east of Red Deer, the owner of the Whistle Stop Cafe, Chris Scott, was arrested and taken away by the RCMP at the end of a day’s protest. Scott was one of the first restaurant owners in Alberta to ignore the COVID-19 closure orders. This week, the RCMP raided his store and seized all his booze. Two days later, the RCMP arrived at dawn and padlocked his establishment. On Saturday, 1,500 people held a peaceful demonstration at the Whistle Stop to protest lockdowns. Scott was arrested after things wrapped up for the day.

“'Finally, some enforcement of the public health laws…#ableg #abhealth Why did it take so long?' Notley tweeted....

"But across the country, Maxime Bernier, leader of the Peoples Party of Canada, blasted the police actions. 'I can’t believe this is happening. Pastor Pawlowski lived under the communist regime in Poland in his youth. Today he is being arrested by a sanitary fascist regime in Canada and Alberta for holding a service. SHAME!' he tweeted.

"Bernier was in Regina at an anti-lockdown rally and had a police visit of his own. 'The Regina police gave us $,2800 tickets for speaking at the Freedom Rally this afternoon. Of course we’re going to fight these unconstitutional tickets in court!' he tweeted after the event."

Read more: https://westernstandardonline.com/2021/05/notley-applauds-police-arrests-as-two-leading-covid-protesters-cuffed-and-hauled-away/ 

Pastor Artur Pawlowski Arrested | The Real Story | Charisma Media | May 1, 2024:

U.S. states pass freedom-to-worship bills

States Move to Shore Up Religious Freedom in a Post-COVID World | Washington Free Beacon - Graham Piro:

May 4, 2021 - "Montana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are pushing legislation that would further protect religious liberty in the wake of shutdown orders mandating that places of worship close their doors entirely or operate under significantly curtailed conditions. 

• The Montana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law by Republican governor Greg Gianforte, establishes that the government 'may not substantially burden a person's right to the exercise of religion.' 
• Oklahoma's law, signed by Republican governor Kevin Stitt, similarly makes restrictions on religious worship because of an emergency more difficult to enforce. 
• The Arkansas legislature went a step further and proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would establish similar protections for religious worship. The amendment will be voted on by Arkansas voters next year....

"The state laws expand on protections for religious liberty that were enacted by the passage of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993. Montana joins 21 other states that have enacted their own expansions of the 1993 law. Montana's legislation comes on the heels of a contentious year of restrictions on religious worship due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.

"The laws are likely to find a sympathetic Supreme Court, as it has repeatedly ruled against restrictions on religious worship during the coronavirus pandemic. The Court repeatedly signaled its support for legal challenges brought by religious organizations against state-issued limitations on in-person religious services. The Democratic strongholds of New York and California found themselves in the Court's crosshairs on multiple occasions for singling out religious institutions for harsh treatment even as they eased restrictions on businesses and other organizations....

"Critics of the laws argued that the laws would turn into vehicles to challenge government non-discrimination statutes. 'This [law] allows individuals to turn the shield of religious freedom we all hold dear into a weapon to attack LGBTQ and Indigenous Montanans,' said Shawn Reagor, director of Equality and Economic Justice with the Montana Human Rights Network.

"State senator Carl Glimm (R.), the author of Montana's bill, said the legislation is necessary to protect places of worship from harsh treatment by heightening the standard necessary for governments to order their shuttering.... Glimm said[:]. 'This bill would have given churches their day in court, for the government to have to prove that there was a sufficient need to close them.'"

Read more: https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/states-move-to-shore-up-religious-freedom-in-a-post-covid-world/

Alberta government barricades GraceLife Church

RCMP raid GraceLife Church; JCCF ‘outraged’ by ‘unjustified violation’ of Charter | Western Standard - Alexander Dhaliwal: 

April 7, 2021 - "With the police’s help, Alberta Health Services (AHS) barricaded GraceLife Church (GLC) at dawn Wednesday, preventing access to the building until the church complies with Alberta’s public health measures. The church, just outside Edmonton, under Pastor James Coates, has been breaking COVID-19 lockdown regulations every Sunday by holding packed services.

"Coates recently spent 35 days in solitary confinement at the Edmonton Remand Centre after turning himself in willingly for breaking COVID-19 public health measures. He was released without conditions in advance of his trial on May 3.... NDP leader Rachel Notley rejoiced over Alberta Health Services taking further steps to enforce public health orders at GLC....

"According to an AHS press release, they have attempted to work collaboratively with GraceLife for several months to address the site’s ongoing public health concerns.... From July 10, 2020, to April 6, 2021, AHS has received 105 complaints from the public about GLC. AHS inspectors, who were denied entry by Church elders last Sunday, have conducted 18 inspections at the site since July 10, 2020, and violations were observed at each visit. There have been no outbreaks reported to health officials or confirmed during the course of the pandemic at GraceLife....

"Representing Pastor Coates and Grace Life Church, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms expressed outrage at the Alberta Government’s decision to enter and put up a double barrier wall around private church property today.... 'The Alberta government has known for many months that it will be called to publicly account before the judiciary for its lockdown destruction of the Alberta economy and trampling of Albertan’s civil liberties,' states lawyer John Carpay, President of the Justice Centre. 'The government has so far refused to justify the limits on worship and gathering. Health orders are inconsistent, differing from province to province, and arbitrarily created by one public health official who is under no obligation legally to advise the legislatures of the science and rationale which supposedly are the basis of the orders,' continues Carpay.

"The Justice Centre is in the process of filing a subpoena to require Alberta Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw to testify at the trial of Pastor Coates on May 3, 2021. The Alberta Government Crown Prosecutor is requesting the Court adjourn the May 3 trial, claiming the government needs until summer to assemble its evidence."

Read more: https://westernstandardonline.com/2021/04/https-westernstandardonline-com-2021-04-breaking-alberta-police-raid-gracelife-church/

Scottish church ban unconstitutional, judge rules

Victory for Scottish church leaders as judge rules government acted unconstitutionally when criminalising gathered worship |Christian Concern (press release):

March 24, 2021 - "In an historic judgment, today a judge has ruled that the Scottish Ministers’ decision to ban and criminalise gathered church worship during the current lockdown was unconstitutional and a disproportionate interference of Article 9 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights].... The ruling is believed to be the first successful legal case against covid regulations in the UK.

"Handing down judgment, Lord Braid also ruled that online worship is not real Christian worship, stating that it is not for the Scottish Ministers to: 'dictate to the petitioners or to the additional party, that, henceforth, or even for the duration of the pandemic, worship is to be conducted on-line. That might be an alternative to worship but it is not worship. At very best for the respondents, in modern parlance, it is worship-lite.'

"Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, 27 Scottish church leaders, from a range of Christian denominations, had brought the legal action stating that the unprecedented closures were unlawful and breached Human Rights law and the Scottish constitution.... Their claim came in response to the restrictions outlined by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on Friday 8 January 2021, which made it a criminal offence for churches in the highest tiers, to hold in person services and, for example, to conduct baptisms.

"At a full judicial review hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh earlier in March, the leaders had sought a declarator (a declaration order) that the restrictions on churches were unlawful and a declarator which would allow people to attend church, should the tier system be reintroduced.

"There has been no attempt to close churches in Scotland since the persecution of the Presbyterian church, instituted by the Stuart kings, in the 17th century....

"During the judicial review on the 11 and 12 March, Janys Scott QC, representing the 27 Scottish church leaders, argued that the pandemic had highlighted an 'irreconcilable conflict' for church leaders between obeying the state and God.... 'The Scottish ministers have presented these 27 church leaders and very many more ministers, church elders and ordinary members of congregation with a deep crisis. As Christians their primary obedience is to God and not to the state and there is a fundamental obedience in regular communal public worship.... And to be absolutely clear this is not about buildings — it’s about assembly of congregations; the sacraments of communion and baptism and the ministry between members of a church are integral aspects of expression on what it is to be a Christian and to belong to a Christian church'....

"Scott argued that the closure of churches is unlawful, criminalises public worship and goes against centuries old practice that churches in Scotland have authority over their own affairs free from state interference. She accused John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister of holding a 'condescending and inaccurate' attitude towards public worship, by treating churches as if they are a 'matter of personal welfare or comfort'.... She also said the European Convention on Human Rights did not allow the Scottish Ministers to take the action of stopping public worship.

"'It’s not for the government to question the legitimacy of beliefs or the manner in which they are expressed,' she said. 'The petitioners say that public corporate worship is essential to the church — it is of the essence, of the being of the church and that is a matter for them.'"

Read more: https://christianconcern.com/ccpressreleases/victory-for-scottish-church-leaders-as-judge-rules-government-acted-unconstitutionally-when-criminalising-gathered-worship/

Alberta pastor remains in jail

GraceLife pastor to spend at least another weekend in jail | Edmonton Journal - Jonny Wakefield:

March 18, 2021 - "Alberta’s provincial court issued a news release Thursday contradicting a claim from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), which is representing the GraceLife Church pastor. The JCCF on Wednesday said it expected Coates to be released from jail this week after reaching an agreement with the Crown to withdraw one of the charges Coates faced for violating COVID-19 restrictions.

"The organization said it expected the case would be dealt with Friday, which would have allowed Coates to preach at GraceLife this Sunday. But on Thursday, Alberta’s provincial court said: ... 'there will be no court proceedings involving James Coates on March 19, 2021.'

"Hundreds of churchgoers defied Alberta government pandemic health restrictions and flocked to GraceLife Church, west of Edmonton, on Sunday March 14, 2021.

"The court confirmed the case is next in court Monday. JCCF president John Carpay said he did not expect the scheduling changes anything legally, but added it is 'unfortunate' Coates will remain locked up over the weekend.

"Coates faced two charges under the Public Health Act for holding in-person worship services that violated restrictions on occupancy and social distancing. He was also charged criminally for allegedly failing to comply with his bail conditions. Coates has been in the Edmonton Remand Centre since mid-February. At least one of the Public Health Act charges is expected to proceed to trial in Stony Plain this May."

Read more: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/gracelife-pastor-to-spend-at-least-another-weekend-in-jail

How Covid became a cult

How Covid became a (very bad) religion | Twitter (via Tom Woods) - John Hayward: 

March 4, 2021 - "Every crisis becomes a religion if it lasts long enough. One factor in that transformation is the Beautiful Theory phenomenon: the power elite insists its remedies are logical and politically correct so they must work, even if the actual evidence shows they obviously don't. When Beautiful Theories crash into hard, cold reality and shatter, faith is the glue used by the elites to put their precious ideas back together. They need militant faith to get the job done: true believers eager to crush doubt and compel obedience by making war on the infidels.

"Some are swept into the faith because they desperately crave a sense of control over the crisis. They need to believe Something Can Be Done, and they'd rather invest their faith in debunked Beautiful Theories than have no faith at all..... Some crave social approval, and the purveyors of Beautiful Theories have immense political, economic, and cultural power to make their faith seem fashionable. Virtue signaling is such a plague in modern society because the signals are pre-packaged and made very easy to send.

"Some aren't even hoping they can assert control over a crisis by converting to its religion. They'll settle for just having some meaning, some simplicity, a sense that the righteous will fare better than the unbelievers, that virtue will be rewarded while sin is punished. That's a very common impulse with the Church of Covid, since the Beautiful Theories were so very obviously wrong. There isn't much left of the faith except the visceral communal satisfaction of hoping unbelievers will be punished for their blasphemies with sickness and death.

"That sort of thing happens with all of the crisis religions, although not usually as quickly and obviously as with the Church of Covid.... The last resort of every crisis religion, the last thing that puts asses in the pews, is that addiction to misery porn, the collective hope that unbelievers will suffer someday, and everyone will admit the True Faith was right all along as Judgment Day crashes down upon them.

"The elite will never have the humility to admit they were wrong, and they'll never give up on politically or financially profitable 'solutions' even when they obviously don't solve the problem. Founding a crisis religion means they never have to say they're sorry. That applies to some very longstanding crises, like the War on Poverty, whose nostrums long ago transformed into fantastically expensive articles of religious faith even as mountains of data accumulated that proved they were utter failures, and often made the problems worse.

"You can look for some telltale signs of a crisis transforming into a religion. The most obvious one is when the high priests tell you the 'war' you've been drafted into will never end. They become very angry when asked to define success or failure, or lay out exit strategies. Watch for the moment when you're told 'science' means not asking questions, defying dogma, or challenging 'consensus.' That is the literal definition of faith, not science. Always keep an eye out for Moving Goalposts, which are the signature miracle of crisis religions.... Crisis religions work very hard to make their faith unfalsifiable by constantly changing the standards of evidence. Check to see if certain people are accumulating huge amounts of money and power from a crisis. That's a pretty good sign it's turning into a religion. A crisis should be solved as quickly and efficiently as possible. Don't let it fester long enough to become a special interest. 

"Above all, look for the whiff of arrogance to develop around a crisis. Wise religions and effective crisis managers have ... a sense of humility. Crisis religions are militant faiths that quickly become arrogant, smug, and totalitarian. Dedicated people who truly want to solve a problem will look for evidence their analysis is wrong, or their policies aren't working, and make adjustments as quickly as possible, no matter the cost or embarrassment to themselves.... Crisis religions ... reject criticism, insist their Beautiful Theories must be right because they're ideologically pure... Their plans only fail because their commands were disobeyed or sabotaged. The high priests of a crisis religion see devils everywhere, leering at them from the rubble of every failure. Only sin can explain why their Beautiful Theories are tarnished. Failure is never their fault, so it must be yours."

Read more: https://twitter.com/Doc_0/status/1367470476528934919

Ontario church, pastor fined for indoor service

Doug Ford issues warning to Woolwich church: ‘there will be consequences’ | Global News - Kevin Nielsen:

January 25, 2021 - "Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned leaders of a church in Waterloo Region that they will face the 'consequences' if they hold more services. 'Please don’t continue doing this. There will be consequences,' Ford said Monday as he urged the church leaders to lead by example.

"On Sunday, two services were held at the Trinity Bible Chapel despite a court order which was filed on Friday in an attempt to prevent them from happening. Ford was asked about Sunday’s services and chastised the leaders for hosting them..., 'I think it’s careless and irresponsible for them to host this, especially when we are in the situation we are in right now,' he said....

"Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin says there will be a plan in place to prevent any more gatherings at the church.... In December, police issued summons to six church elders after services were held at the church in defiance of the Reopening Ontario Act. The region said nine charges were laid by its bylaw officers including six people and the church corporation itself for hosting the event. Two other people were charged for attending the gathering. The church had moved to holding drive-in services but announced last week it would hold services inside on Sunday....

The government of Ontario declared a state of emergency and imposed a stay-at-home order on Jan. 12, banning indoor gatherings and activities including religious services. Some religious services, such as weddings and funerals, are permitted provided they include no more than 10 people and physical distancing can be maintained. The rules apply to the entire province and will remain in effect until at least Feb. 11."

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/7597256/waterloo-region-church-held-in-person-service-despite-court-order-police/

Woolwich pastor faces fine of up to $100,000 for Sunday service ignoring COVID-19 lockdown | Global News - Kevin Nielsen:

January 28, 2021 - "Waterloo Region issued nine tickets to members of the Trinity Bible Chapel in Woolwich, Ont., for holding services on Sunday in spite of the COVID-19 lockdown, according to Waterloo Region. Waterloo Region spokesperson TJ Miller told Global News in an email that five elders, pastor Jacob Reaume and the Trinity Bible Chapel corporation have all been charged under the Reopening Ontario Act.

"The church has been in the news previously — and has even attracted comment from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. As for the region, it took things to a different level this time as it attempts to get Trinity Bible Chapel to follow an Ontario order that hundreds of other religious institutions across the province have been able to keep.

"'The Region of Waterloo has also charged the pastor and one elder under Ontario Regulation 82/20 for attending a gathering of more than 10, Miller said. If convicted of hosting or organizing an in-person gathering of more than 10 people, the pastor and the elder each face a fine of between $10,000 and $100,000....

"A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office confirmed that an injunction was issued last Friday restraining the Trinity Bible Chapel from holding gatherings of more than 10 people. 'Church services were held at Trinity Bible Chapel on Sunday, January 24, 2021, despite the injunction order,' the spokesperson told Global News in an email. 'On January 27, 2021, the motion for contempt proceeded. The Court made findings of contempt against all Respondents, with reasons to follow.'

"Sentencing for the matter will take place in February."

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/7604542/woolwich-pastor-church-lockdown-fine/

SCOTUS blocks NY religious restrictions

Supreme Court rules that Cuomo can’t limit attendance at New York religious services due to COVID-19 | Market Watch -Jess Bravin:

November 26, 2020 - "The Supreme Court blocked New York from imposing strict limits on attendance at religious services to combat Covid-19, with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett casting the pivotal vote to depart from past cases that deferred to state authorities on public-health measures.

"In orders issued shortly before midnight Wednesday, the court, in a 5-4 vote, set aside attendance limits that Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed on houses of worship in areas most severely affected by the coronavirus: 10 people in red zones and 25 in orange zones. Chief Justice John Roberts and three liberal justices dissented.

"New York classifies places where coronavirus infections are of increasing severity as yellow, orange or red. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish organization, alleged that the limits violated their First Amendment rights of religious exercise.

"The Supreme Court’s unsigned opinion found that the religious plaintiffs were likely to prevail and, overruling federal courts in New York, suspended the governor’s orders while the litigation proceeds."

"An expanded version of this story appears on WSJ.com

Read more: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/supreme-court-rules-that-cuomo-cant-limit-attendance-at-new-york-religious-services-due-to-covid-19-2020-11-26

Churches going underground in Britain

‘Let us disobey’: Churches defy lockdown with secret meetings | The Guardian - Harriet Sherwood, The Observer:

November 22, 2020 - "Invitations are passed by word of mouth to trusted people. Minimal information – time, directions – is quietly given with pleas for discretion. Once everyone is assembled in a barn on a remote farm – 'away from prying eyes,' says the organiser – it begins. This is no rave, but an English church service under lockdown, and the organiser is a Protestant pastor. The Christians who will gather illegally in the west of England on Sunday morning – as they have for the past two Sundays – will pray, read from the scriptures, sing hymns and listen to a sermon.

"'We’ve been holding clandestine services since this lockdown began,' the pastor told the Observer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It feels weird for us to act this way. People have said it feels more like an underground church in China'....

"According to church leaders the Observer has spoken to, an increasing number of congregations are breaking the law in order to worship together, an activity banned under current restrictions. Some are moving to different premises, others meeting covertly in regular church buildings.

"Last Sunday police intervened at the Angel evangelical church in Clerkenwell, north London, after its pastor publicly announced his intention to hold a service. In Gedling, Nottinghamshire, two arrests were made at the Mustard Seed Christian bookshop and cafe after a gathering of up to 50 people last weekend.

"'I never thought I’d say this in Britain, but churches are going underground. These are not isolated cases – and the longer it goes on, more churches will join the movement,' said Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, a conservative evangelical group, and a member of the Church of England’s ruling body, the general synod. Andrew, a minister at a London church, said: 'We’ve carried on as normal [during the current lockdown]. We’re holding a couple of services each Sunday, with about 160 people attending in total. We’ve asked people to be discreet. This is not a stunt we’re pulling, we’re not seeking publicity. It was a big decision – I’ve never practised civil disobedience before'

"The government had overreached itself, he added. 'I don’t believe the government has the authority to tell the church of Jesus Christ that it can’t gather for worship. They have provided no evidence, they just classed us as non-essential. But we believe worship is the most essential thing in life'.... 

"Regan King, the pastor of the Angel church, plans to hold further services with up to 15 people on Sunday despite police intervening to prevent a larger service last weekend. 'We’re not law breakers, we want to comply with the law as much as possible,' he said. But, he added, there was a 'greater law' than that made by the state....

"The ban on communal worship in England has been challenged by the leaders of the Church of England, the Catholic church and Orthodox Judaism, along with Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Pentecostal representatives. They wrote a joint letter to Boris Johnson saying there was 'no scientific justification for the wholesale suspension of public worship'." 

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/22/let-us-disobey-churches-defy-lockdown-with-secret-meetings

The COVID Cult

The Covidian Cult | Off-Guardian - CJ Hopkins:

October 13, 2020 - "One of the hallmarks of totalitarianism is mass conformity to a psychotic official narrative ... that has little or no connection to reality and that is contradicted by a preponderance of facts. Nazism and Stalinism are the classic examples, but the phenomenon is better observed in cults.... What many people fail to understand is that to those who fall prey to them (whether individual cult members or entire totalitarian societies) such narratives do not register as psychotic. On the contrary, they feel entirely normal. Everything in their social 'reality' reifies and reaffirms the narrative, and anything that challenges or contradicts it is perceived as an existential threat.

"These narratives are invariably paranoid, portraying the cult as threatened or persecuted by an evil enemy or antagonistic force which only unquestioning conformity to the cult’s ideology can save its members from.... The point is not the identity of the enem. The point is the atmosphere of paranoia and hysteria the official narrative generates, which keeps the cult members (or the society) compliant.... In addition to being paranoid, these narratives are often internally inconsistent [and] illogical.... This ... forces their adherents to attempt to reconcile their inconsistency and irrationality ... in order to remain in good standing with the cult. Such reconciliation is of course impossible, and causes the cult members’ minds to short circuit and abandon any semblance of critical thinking, which is precisely what the cult leader wants. Moreover, cult leaders will often radically change these narratives for no apparent reason, forcing their cult members to abruptly forswear (and often even denounce as 'heresy') the beliefs they had previously been forced to profess, and behave as if they had never believed them, which causes their minds to further short circuit, until they eventually give up even trying to think rationally, and just mindlessly parrot whatever nonsensical gibberish the cult leader fills their heads with....

"If all this sounds familiar, good. Because the same techniques that most cult leaders use to control the minds of the members of their cults are used by totalitarian systems to control the minds of entire societies: Milieu Control, Loaded Language, Sacred Science, Demand for Purity, and other standard mind-control techniques. It can happen to pretty much any society, just as anyone can fall prey to a cult, given the right set of circumstances. It is happening to most of our societies right now. An official narrative is being implemented. A totalitarian official narrative. A totally psychotic official narrative, no less delusional than that of the Nazis, or the Manson family, or any other cult. Most people cannot see that it is happening, for the simple reason that it is happening to them....

"And this is why so many people — people who are able to easily recognize totalitarianism in cults and foreign countries — cannot perceive the totalitarianism that is taking shape now, right in front of their faces (or, rather, right inside their minds). Nor can they perceive the delusional nature of the official “Covid-19” narrative, no more than those in Nazi Germany were able to perceive how completely delusional their official 'master race' narrative was. Such people are neither ignorant nor stupid. They have been successfully initiated into a cult, which is essentially what totalitarianism is, albeit on a societal scale.

"Their initiation into the Covidian Cult began in January, when the medical authorities and corporate media turned on The Fear with projections of hundreds of millions of deaths and fake photos of people dropping dead in the streets. The psychological conditioning has continued for months. The global masses have been subjected to a constant stream of propaganda, manufactured hysteria, wild speculation, conflicting directives, exaggerations, lies, and tawdry theatrical effects. Lockdowns. Emergency field hospitals and morgues. The singing-dancing NHS staff. Death trucks. Overflowing ICUs. Dead Covid babies. Manipulated statistics. Goon squads. Masks. And all the rest of it.

"Eight months later, here we are. The Head of the Health Emergencies Program at the WHO [World Health Organization] has basically confirmed an IFR [infection fatality rate] of 0.14%, approximately the same as the seasonal flu.... The 'science' argument is officially over. An increasing number of doctors and medical experts are breaking ranks and explaining how the current mass hysteria over 'cases' (which now includes perfectly healthy people) is essentially meaningless propaganda, for example, in this segment on ARD, one of the big mainstream German TV channels. And then there is the existence of Sweden, and other countries which are not playing ball with the official Covid-19 narrative, which makes a mockery of the ongoing hysteria. 

"The point is, the facts are all available.... From mainstream outlets and medical experts. From the Center for F*cking Disease Control. Which does not matter in the least, not to the members of the Covidian Cult. Facts do not matter to totalitarians and cult members. What matters is loyalty to the cult or the party. Which means we have a serious problem, those of us to whom facts still matter, and who have been trying to use them to convince the Covidian cultists that they are wrong about the virus … for going on eight months at this point.

"While it is crucial to continue reporting the facts and sharing them with as many people as possible — which is becoming increasingly difficult due to the censorship of alternative and social media — it is important to accept what we are up against. What we are up against is not a misunderstanding or a rational argument over scientific facts. It is a fanatical ideological movement.... Instead of the cult existing as an island within the dominant culture, the cult has become the dominant culture, and those of us who have not joined the cult have become the isolated islands within it."

Read more: https://off-guardian.org/2020/10/13/the-covidian-cult/

Another libertarian party launched in Israel

New Israeli libertarian party to launch next week - Israel National News 7 - David Rosenberg:

November 29, 2019 - "As Israel edges closer towards its third election in less than a year, a new center-right party is preparing to launch, joining an already crowded field of right-leaning parties. The New Liberal Party of Israel, formed by three former members of the libertarian-leaning Zehut party, is set to officially launch next Wednesday at a conference in Tel Aviv.

"Based on the principles of classical liberalism and free-market economics, the new party shares much of the ideology of Zehut, which endorsed the Likud shortly before the September 17th election, bowing out of the race due to the promise of a ministry position in the next government led by Binyamin Netanyahu, and the adoption by the Likud of some of Zehut’s positions on medical marijuana....

"[T]he new venture ... was launched by three former Zehut candidates who refused to accept the party’s endorsement of the Likud earlier this year.... Economist Gilad Alper, physics lecturer Rafael Minnes, and educator and school reform activist Libby Molad lead the nascent party, which recently released a draft of its platform.

"On security, foreign policy, and territorial issues, the New Liberal Party places itself to the right of center, opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state and placing Israel’s security at the top of its agenda....

"On socio-economic issues, the party’s platform backs reduced regulation, taxation, and government intervention in the economy and increased privacy rights, along with the separation of synagogue and state. 'We will separate religion from politics.... Government involvement with religious institutions results in unacceptable coercion, as well as discrimination against single people and people from the LGBT community in comparison to married couples, the banning of mass transportation on the Sabbath, the wasting of taxpayers’ funds, and unnecessary feelings of resentment between secular and religious Jews.'

"The platform also calls for removing Israel’s marriage registry system from state religious authorities and the establishment of civil marriages, along with ending the chief rabbinate’s administration of Israel’s kashrut certification system. Like Zehut, the New Liberal Party emphasizes the need to 'end the war on cannabis' – including recreational marijuana – and to expand access to medicinal marijuana.

"Regarding education, the party’s platform promises reforms which would decentralize and shift control of the education system from the Education Ministry to local communities. In addition, the New Liberal Party endorses the voucher system to increase parental choice."

Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272456
'via Blog this'

Ex-Muslim speaks out on "Islamophobia"

Op-ed: Ex-Muslims – a community in protest | mnamazie - Maryam Namazie, The Free Thinker, Patheos blog:

July 21, 2019 - "When the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) started ... in June 2007, we were hard pressed to find 25 people who would come out publicly to break the apostasy taboo.... Today, we are witness to an international ex-Muslim 'community' – a tsunami of atheism.

"For me, though, this has never been about community as identity politics (people boxed into homogenised, segregated communities with culturally-relative rights managed by 'community leaders'). But rather, a community in protest: insisting on freedom from religion and the right to conscience ... a movement that insists on our common humanity and equality – not difference or superiority. A movement of people who refuse to live in fear and in the shadows. And who are speaking out for social change in unprecedented ways, particularly via social media.

"This movement matters because thirteen states punish atheism with the death penalty – all Islamic.... Because a series of laws in Saudi Arabia define atheism as terrorism with Ahmad Al-Shamri being sentenced to death for atheism.... Because Sina Dehghan has been sentenced to death in Iran for 'insulting Islam'.... Because a Pakistani High Court Judge has said that blasphemers are terrorists with Ayaz Nizami and Rana Noman facing the death penalty. This movement matters because you can be killed for leaving or criticising Islam....

"Yet when CEMB took to the streets of London Pride last year, the East London Mosque filed a complaint against our 'Islamophobic' placards.... when #ExMuslimBecause became viral overnight with over 120,000 Tweets from 65 countries with so many realising they were not alone for the first time in their lives, BBC Trending said it was an excuse for 'Muslim-bashing' and 'Islamophobia' ... when we showed our solidarity with those persecuted in Saudi Arabia for eating or drinking during Ramadan, armed metropolitan police came to the Saudi Embassy’s rescue saying our 'eat-in' and fast-defying solidarity action was “offending” those at the embassy …

"In my opinion, accusations of 'Islamophobia' are less about opposing bigotry (after all you cannot stop racism by outlawing blasphemy and apostasy) and more about defending religious privilege and the status quo. It is used to scaremonger ex-Muslims into silence and impose de facto apostasy and blasphemy laws where none exist. Where they do, we are accused of blasphemy and apostasy and persecuted without any such 'niceties'....

"The charge of 'Islamophobia' protects religion and the religious-Right, not believers.... Conflating criticism of Islam and Islamism with 'Muslim-bashing' sees dissent as bigotry rather than for what it is – a defence of blasphemy and apostasy when one can be killed for it.

"That doesn’t mean that bigotry against Muslims, migrants, minorities doesn’t exist. Of course it does..... And, yes of course, there are ex-Muslims who are bigoted against Muslims just as there are Muslims who are bigoted against ex-Muslims.... But individuals – not a 'community' –  must be held accountable for their choices. We are not extensions of our 'communities' to be defended or condemned depending on which 'tribe' we belong to....

"Whilst touted as progressive, identity politics is a politics of difference AND superiority – these are two sides of the same double-edged sword. The politics of difference has always been the fundamental principle of a racist agenda, not the other way around – whether it is Nazism, the biological theory of difference and racial superiority or expressions of difference in cultural and religious terms. Identity politics is the corruption of the fight for social justice by degrading it to a mere defence of culture and the homogenous 'community' – no matter what.

"In an age of regressive identity politics and cultural relativism, an ex-Muslim community in protest matters because it reaffirms universal values, anti-racism, secularism, the fight for equality, social justice and our common humanity. A movement that is about equality not privilege. Rights without permission. And gives no apologies."

Read more: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thefreethinker/2019/07/op-ed-ex-muslims-a-community-in-protest/
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