SAN FRANCISCO – The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom said Saturday it will publish revised guidelines for in-house church services after the Supreme Court lifted the state’s ban on in-house worship during the coronavirus pandemic, but has restrictions on singing and singing enforced.
In the most significant legal victory against California’s Covid-19 health ordinances, the Supreme Court ruled late on Friday in two cases where churches allege the restrictions violated their religious freedom. The judges said California can’t go ahead with a ban on indoor church services for now, but it could limit attendance to 25 percent of a building’s capacity and limit singing and singing indoors.
California had put in place the restrictions because the virus is more easily transmitted indoors and, when singing, releases tiny droplets that can carry the disease.
Newsom’s office said those measures are in place to protect worshipers from contamination.
“We will continue to enforce the restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court and, after reviewing the decision, we will issue revised worship guidelines to continue to protect the lives of Californians,” said Governor’s press secretary Daniel Lopez. in a statement.
Before the ruling, indoor worship services were banned in purple-tiered counties – those countries that were at widespread risk of transmission of the coronavirus. This level accounts for the vast majority of the state.
The judges responded to emergency requests to end restrictions on the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista and the Pasadena-based Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry, which has more than 160 churches in the state.
“You can go to your house of worship from now on! You can go back to church, we’re excited about that, ”Pastor Art Hodges of South Bay United Pentecostal Church told NBC SanDiego.
The church has defied state orders since May last year by holding in while following COVID-19 security protocols, Hodges said. He said he was grateful for having services on Sunday “without any pressure, threat or concern” and added that the 25 percent limit will mean that he will add two or three additional services to accommodate Church members. .
“At least it gives us some wiggle room to operate,” he said.
On Instagram, the Harvest Rock ministry in downtown Los Angeles announced it would be holding a personal service Saturday night.
‘Bring the kids! We look forward to seeing the whole family for service tonight! said the announcement, followed by the hashtag #inpersonservice.
The church said in a statement that it will continue to request the right to sing during indoor services, arguing that the state falsely allowed the entertainment industry to film a singing competition, but not during indoor worship services.
“While data-based locking is one thing, it’s quite another motive to give some groups a right that is denied to others.” the statement said.
The newest judge of the court, Amy Coney Barrett, said in her first signed position that it was up to the churches to demonstrate that they were entitled to an exemption from the song ban. She wrote for herself and for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, saying it was not clear at this point whether the song ban was being applied “ across the board. ”
Not all places of worship plan to reopen right away.
The head of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco said the Supreme Court is “not doing anyone a favor” by lifting the ban.
“We try to follow science and we try to be patient,” Dean Malcolm Clemens Young told The San Francisco Chronicle.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest of its kind in the US with over 5 million Catholics, cautiously advised “parishes who choose to return” to indoor worship to follow the rules for singing and room capacity, in addition to requiring physical distance and face masks.
“The Archdiocese of Los Angeles welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision to allow indoor worship services,” said a statement.