Rulings in cases to defend stay-at-home orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on May 8 now offer a roadmap for other pending and future lawsuits challenging similar orders across Missouri.
The Rev. Jim West was feeling terrified as the state of Tennessee — and the church he pastors there — prepared to reopen after a month under stay-at-home orders. But he was also looking forward to it.
Governors across the country recently started lifting coronavirus restrictions even as health experts warn it’s too soon to reopen. With the rashness of the biblical Judge Jephthah, many governors push ahead with their plans even though it means sacrificing lives.
Top officials of seven black Christian denominations have joined civil rights leaders in calling for people to stay home until it is safe in states whose governors are lifting shelter-in-place orders.
The coronavirus pandemic has raised a number of difficult questions concerning personal freedoms and public safety, with religion front and center. Should congregations continue to gather in person for worship and other social functions? Can the state restrict religious organizations from fully free functioning?
The Justice Department took the rare step on Tuesday of weighing in on the side of an independent Baptist church in Mississippi where local officials had tried to stop Holy Week services broadcast to congregants sitting in their cars in the parking lot.