US COVID-19 Update: Pastors Take California Governor To Court On Church Restrictions

Three pastors and a church-going member have joined together to sue California Governor Gavin Newsom, State Attorney General Xavier Becerra and other California officials for violating their constitutional rights since joining other states on imposing rules on holding large group meetings.

According to CNN, most states have included religious gatherings under those that are prohibited, which is why these pastors have filed the suit. In it, they accuse Newsom and his officials of abusing their power and using the pandemic to deprive the people of the right to "freedom to religion, speech, and assembly" as well as "due process and equal protection under the law."

The group made up of the pastors and the church member who filed the suit is being represented by Republican Party official Harmeet Dhillion's Dhillon Law Group. They have also included some San Bernardino county officials, most of which are sheriffs and health officers.

This comes as Newsom has issued orders for church-goers to practice social distancing in case they want to go to gatherings. The governor, addressing churches wishing to hold gatherings last Easter, said that they could worship while practicing safety during the COVID-19.

These laws, which are meant to protect the church-going citizens, could spell the difference between life and death. According to The Print, a pastor from Virginia has succumbed to the virus, only a week after he held church services which attracted more than a dozen people.

The church service, held last March 22, was presided over by Bishop Gerald Glenn, founder and pastor of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church located in Richmond. His services were in clear violation of Virginia law, which stated that gatherings of 10 or more people were banned at the time.

Glenn's wife was also reported to have contracted COVID-19. His daughter, Mar-Gerie Crawley Glenn, said in a Facebook message to take the "severity and seriousness" of the coronavirus with heavy precaution.

Violations such as these have sadly become ground-zero for new outbreaks of the virus. In one such case, a 61-year-old woman in South Korea who was positive with coronavirus attended a church service, leading to a massive spread of the disease in the area where she was located.