Benjamin Franklin once claimed “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Hundreds of years later many states attempt to restrict churches from holding services during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Would this quote be applicable to the situation? Unfoundedly. The right to freely practice faith is among the first rights granted in the United States Constitution. It is certainly an “essential liberty”
Luckily, the Supreme Court agrees. In a 6-3 decision Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that California cannot ban indoor church services.
It is astonishing the 3 servants of the constitution felt that it was constitutional to ban the services, but exciting that they were overruled.
This is not the first time that the Supreme Court has ruled this way over similar bans. A nearly identical situation was handled in New York as well.