Pueblo, CO – The Church is an essential service, especially in times of crisis. Yet, Governor Jared Polis initially shut down churches and is still regulating them after amending his order.
Despite a long list of exemptions deemed “essential,” The Church did not make it onto Polis’ initial list. He has since amended the order to allow Houses of Worship to remain open IF they practice “extreme social distancing.”
This is a start, but any regulation of The Church is unacceptable.
It is telling that a church in Colorado Springs had to violate this order for Polis to relent.
The Church is a place of fellowship, healing, and comfort. Churches are a place for people to seek comfort. They are a place for people to turn to for help.
These are all things we find extremely necessary in these trying times. People are fearful right now, and The Church is a wonderful place to turn.
Take our latest poll:
Do you oppose the government using location data to track the movement of citizens?
Will “extreme social distancing” be enforced?
While the order to close churches was amended, will “extreme social distancing” regulations be enforced by the government? It is possible.
The Governor’s Office released this statement to KRDO on Thursday regarding the public health orders:
From: KRDO
“The order is clear and we ask everyone to follow. It’s important to remind people that this executive order is the law and voluntary compliance is key to success. Our goal is to save lives and in order to do that, we need to do it together.”
This sounds more like a demand than a request.
Restricting access and regulating these places of worship is wrong. It is unconstitutional, and Polis and the government have no right to enforce any order he places on The Church.
That is not to say churches should not follow social distancing practices and amend services to reduce the chances of infection wherever they can. In fact, we recommend it.
However, we fear for what this means for churches found to be non-compliant.
What does this mean for families of different households that wish to sit together during service? Many families have young children that they rely on friends to help entertain during services.
Worse still, will churches be forced to turn away worshipers if so many people show up they cannot stay six feet apart? Will they be criminalized if they let too many people inside?
If this vague executive order has the rule of law, we believe these churches can technically be prosecuted for non-compliance.
Polis isn’t the only one. DeBlasio threatened to close churches and synagogues PERMANENTLY. (But not mosques.)
And the welfare warfare state finally targeted the churches.
It was inevitable as long as people continued to demand government do everything under the sun except fulfill the purpose of government, which is simply to protect individual liberties.
The government in this Republic has one sole duty, to protect liberties.
The rest is up to us.
If the government fails in those ends, new government and new leaders may be necessary.
I bought my copy of the Declaration of Independence at Hobby Lobby.