On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter. That sentence is one that this Court never expected to see outside the pages of a dystopian novel, or perhaps the pages of The Onion. But two days ago, citing the need for social distancing during the current pandemic, Louisville’s Mayor Greg Fischer ordered Christians not to attend Sunday services, even if they remained in their cars to worship –and even though it’s Easter.The Mayor’s decision is stunning. And it is,“beyond all reason,”unconstitutional.
Go here to read the text of the decision.
Good, the fight against the tin pot dictators begins now, and Christians should be leading the charge.
Wow, outstanding opinion. Somehow the plaintiffs managed to find a believing Christian judge (likely Catholic, to boot) who knows his history as well as his Constitutional law. I would not want to be the city attorney trying to defend the mayor’s order come Tuesday morning. And Don, I sure hope you’re right that this is the beginning of a legal wave. Praise the Lord! And Happy Easter, everyone!
You know, I have not heard if Muslims are having their worship services. I am not sure what, if anything, they do this time of year, although I am sure they must do something weekly. Some kind of gathering.
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I refer here only to Muslims in the US, not the ones in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi A, etc.
No one, but no one gets to dictate to a man his conscience. It is called separation of church and state. Common sense and lawful authority may counsel the common good. Good will for the common good is citizenship.
In this case, only the individual may self-quarantine himself.
“I AM THE GOD OF LIFE.”
Violating a self-quarantine for the safety of our neighbors is a sin. Legal authorities need to respect, guard and enforce the individual’s practice of their free will in this matter.
Government does not own its constituents. Rather constituents own their government. Government does not own the Church which is entrusted to the parishioners for all generations. The Church is private property not owned by the government.
Does the government intend to prosecute its constituents for peaceable assembly on their private property?
Does the government intend to prosecute its constituents for treading on their own private property? Has the government not read its Constitution? The Preamble? “to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”
It’s heartening to see many of our protestant brethren coming together to worship God on Easter, and fighting for the right to do so in the face of threats from bullies cloaked with governmental power. It would be nice if our Catholic churches, with the support of their bishops, were actively defending the right to do the same thing.
Excellent. I sent this to family and friends, and every priest on my email distro list, asking them to push for their denominations to open up their worship services again. May this generate a ground swell of petitions from the Catholic parishes to reopen services in a responsible manner (masks, distancing, if sick then stay home, smaller numbers of people with more Masses, etc.). The fact that the Bishops rolled so easily with little push back was sad but telling. I haven’t given to a Bishop’s Annual Appeal is about 15 years and doubt if I ever will again. Happy Easter to the TAC family. Jesus lives! Alleluia!
At most levels we have corrupt, out-sized and incompetent governments. The more they fail, the power they seize and the more they take from us.
Remember in November.
Joel Kotkin: “When he takes office – or some other more sentient figure like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – the new President will inherit a governmental apparatus committed to the expansion of its own power. It will enjoy the support of Wall Street grandees and high-tech oligarchs seeking both social status and easy profits from an “energy transition.” Unless carefully controlled and monitored, the response to the current pandemic could end up leaving us with a system more akin to China’s authoritarian order, dominated by a narrow class of Mandarins and billionaires.” It already is.
Glenn Reynolds, “Well, China has been the model for our ruling class for a while now. This is why it’s important to re-elect [Donald J. Trump] the ruling class’s enemy, and give him both houses of Congress.”
If it goes the wrong way, we will have need of our 400 million guns and one trillion bullets.
Another point of view. Be careful. The command fails flunks strict scrutiny. Stop there.
Less is more when treading through legal and constitutional thickets because tread-prints may become precedent, especially when affirmed. If Judge Walker can preach any judge can “preach.”
https://blog.simplejustice.us/2020/04/12/judge-walkers-easter-bomb/
If Judge Walker can preach any judge can “preach.”
That particular horse has been out of that particular barn for a very, very long time. The action of the Mayor was outrageous and warranted more than a perfunctory tro telling him he could not dance a flamenco on the Constitution.
The opinion need not be perfunctory. I could describe the balancing test for the Mayor with a whiplash. Figuratively of course. Or the tongue of a wasp. So that he understands. ; ]
sigh Guess where I live…
And right next door to Louisville…
https://www.wdrb.com/news/coronavirus/kentucky-state-police-record-churchgoers-license-plates-at-hillview-in-person-easter-service/article_e7c3d1b8-7cd9-11ea-9fc0-b7df1d01c625.html
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!