Matt Bush, FISM News
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Calvary Chapel in Santa Clara County, California, has been ordered by a judge to pay $1.2 million for violating mask and social distancing mandates that were put into place to fight the spread of COVID-19.
Based on the amount of the fine, the wording of the order, the persistence of the court, and previous rulings that have gone in favor of Calvary Chapel, this new lawsuit appears to be more personal than legal in nature.
“It should appear clear to all—regardless of religious affiliation—that wearing a mask while worshiping one’s god and communing with other congregants is a simple, unobtrusive, giving way to protect others while still exercising your right to religious freedom. Unfortunately, Defendants repeatedly refused to model, much less, enforce this gesture. Instead, they repeatedly flouted their refusal to comply with the Public Health Orders and urged others to do so ‘who cares what the cost,’ including death,” Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Evette D. Pennypacker wrote in her April 7 order. “The fines are solely the result of Defendants’ own egregious conduct.”
Calvary Chapel has claimed throughout the process that the COVID lockdown orders violated worshippers’ First Amendment rights. The church also alleges that California’s masking orders were unconstitutional because they were neither applied nor enforced equally among all people in the state.
“They exempted essential government entities, as well as personal care [businesses] like hair and nail salons, and entertainment studios. There was no singing ban on entertainment studios, so they could continue their productions,” Calvary Chapel attorney Mariah Gondeiro said.
The church paused in-person services, just like many other churches, in March 2020 after state and federal lockdown orders started being issued from the likes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, on May 31, 2020, Calvary Chapel restarted in-person worship gatherings.
Pennypacker’s order says, “Calvary closed in—person services and contends that in so doing immediately experienced a decline in spiritual, emotional, and mental health amongst its congregants. According to its Pastor, Mike McClure, ‘fellowship requires the gathering of ALL church member [sic] together in person, as fellowship represents the Body of Christ.’”
Rather than waiting for the members of the church to continue to decline in their spiritual and mental health, Pastor Mike McClure reopened the church’s doors.
SURVEILLANCE AND PHONE TRACKING BY THE COUNTY
The county deployed man hours, phone tracking techniques, and stakeouts in close proximity of the church between November 2020 and January 2021.
Enforcement officers were paid more than $200 per hour to observe church services and employ a company called SafeGraph to obtain cellular mobility data of church members. The county then paid a Stanford law professor $800 per hour to analyze all of the data collected.
“It is unconscionable how much time and money this county has spent surveilling and targeting this church when they should be focused on rebuilding the community,” said Gondeiro.
This surveillance led to a complaint filed by the church that says, “congregants expressed to Pastor McClure they felt intimidated by the County enforcement officers’ persistent surveillance of church services” and they “believed the County was going to order the police to arrest them for attending church.”
In 2022, Calvary Chapel appealed a previous $200,000 fine levied on them by a lower court to the California Sixth District Court of Appeals. That fine was reversed based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Gavin Newsom.
That Supreme Court ruled that Newsom’s ban on indoor worship during the pandemic was a violation of religious freedom.
“This case will not likely end until the U.S. Supreme Court rebukes Santa Clara County again,” said Robert Tyler, President of Advocates for Faith and Freedom.