Church Closures, Religious Freedom, and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Assessing the Christian Legal Movement’s Response

Andrew Lewis is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati

 

 

 

 

Daniel Bennett is Associate Professor of Political Science at John Brown University and Assistant Director at the Center for Faith and Flourishing

 

 

 

 

 

During the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, many state and local governments enacted restrictions on large gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. Restaurants were closed, concerts and sporting events canceled, store capacities limited, and Sunday worship services halted. It was a sudden and seismic shift in the American way of life.

Religious Americans generally complied with orders pertaining to worship services, but many also expressed concerns about such regulation of religious life. Across several national surveys, white evangelicals were more likely than others to support churches defying government restrictions. Moreover, there were clear partisan gaps coinciding with support or opposition to these restrictions. Additionally, one study linked defiant attitudes to whether states had either no restrictions or strong restrictions, and another study connected defiance to trust in Fox News. In general, the politics of COVID restrictions on churches reflect the growing polarization of religious freedom, one that is poised to play a major role in future—and, in many ways, current—culture wars.

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Worldview and Spirituality: Outlooks of the Church and Individuals Shaped by Crisis

E. Isabel Park is Project Assistant at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago

Over the past six months, the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted our world in ways that will clearly last, even once the virus is under control. It has also raised and re-raised complex questionsat the intersection ofbioethics, law, medicine, and public healthbyinjecting a dose of reality into the theoretical, abstract terms with which we once discussed these questions. In short, the pandemic has induced an unforeseen stress test on the adaptability and capabilities of our technomedical knowledge and legal systems.

In the long run, the economy will likely recover and the medical field will continue to advance. But, for better or for worse, the pandemic will have left an indelible mark on our lives and on the human psyche, which necessitates a discussion of the coronavirus pandemic as not only a medical crisis, but also as a moral, spiritual one.

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Religious Liberty in a Pandemic: Constitutional Challenges to Mass Gathering Bans

Caroline Mala Corbin is Professor of Law and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at the University of Miami School of Law

The coronavirus pandemic led to an unprecedented shutdown of the United States. To stem the spread of the highly contagious pathogen, much of the country shut down for at least a month in April 2020, with the vast majority of governors ordering people to stay at home as much as possible.

The emergency regulations usually included a ban on large gatherings, such as any in-person gathering of more than ten people. Although some states exempted worship services, others did not. Churches sued, arguing that these bans violated their Free Exercise Clause rights by treating worship services more strictly than analogous activities that were not banned, such as shopping at a supermarket or superstore—allowed as essential services.

This short essay examines these claims, concluding that the constitutionality of the bans turns on the science of how the pathogen spreads, and that the best available scientific evidence supports the mass gathering bans.

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