Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, Calif., and the Harvest International Ministry have won an important legal judgment against Gov. Gavin Newson’s COVID-19 restrictions against places of worship and indoor services.
A district judge issued a permanent injunction against the coronavirus restrictions the governor had placed on churches and other houses of religious worship.
The church had challenged those restrictions.
See these tweets about the legal win:
The Golden State had moved to ban indoor worship services last year—plus other indoor activities such as dining at restaurants and attending movies in theaters—as part of its “tier 1” restrictions across most of the state, as Newsmax and other conservative outlets reported.
In an icing-on-the-cake development, the state of California must also pay $1.3 million in attorney’s fees.
The church had wanted the court to allow its worshippers to meet in person—without any consequences or punishment from the state.
“While the Governor has unilaterally and significantly restricted the number of individuals permitted to ‘gather’ in Plaintiffs’ churches, he has imposed no similar restrictions on the untold thousands of protesters who have gathered all throughout California cities with no threat of criminal sanction, and no social distancing or restrictions whatsoever,” the original complaint filed last year noted.
“And, the Governor explicitly encouraged such large gatherings of protesters while condemning churches for [singing] hymns in their churches,” it added.
Harvest Rock was represented in its legal journey—including a big victory this past February in the Supreme Court—by Mat Staver’s Liberty Counsel.
See these additional tweets with more information and reaction.
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—By CNJ Staff