Virginia Man Sues to Prevent Democratic Governor from Ruining Easter Sunday for Christians
Gov. Ralph Northam shouldn’t be allowed to ruin Easter for Christians, said a Virginia man upset about the Democratic governor’s coronavirus-related limitations on religious gatherings.
Northam was sued on Monday in the Circuit Court of Russell County. Larry Hughes, a self-professed Christian and regular churchgoer, argued that Northam’s executive order barring gatherings of more than 10 people, religious gatherings included, “substantially interferes with [his] exercise of his Christian faith, and forces [him] to choose between fidelity to his religious belief and punishment […].”
Hughes said that the Executive Order 55 and the 10 person limit have a “chilling effect” on his religious liberty because he “will not know the number of participants that may be at a service until he arrives,” and “[e]ven the pastor of a church may fear numerical non-compliance and simply close the doors to avoid turning out participants during service if the number suddenly exceeds the permissible limit.”
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring noted that the governor did not shut down churches.
“The Governor has been careful to preserve religious liberty while protecting public safety. None of the Governor’s Orders requires a place of worship to close or prevents public access, and EO 55 specifically permits people to ‘leave their residence for the purpose of’ ‘[t]raveling to and from one’s . . . place of worship,'” Herring argued. “Virginia’s official coronavirus website also identifies ways that people may continue to practice their faith, including collectively: ‘Attendees may travel to their place of worship, park in the parking lot, and listen to the religious message while remaining in their cars’ so long as there are ‘no more than 10 individuals leading the religious ceremony or functioning outside of the church in support of the religious ceremony.'”
https://lawandcrime.com/lawsuit/virginia-man-sues-to-prevent-democratic-governor-for-ruining-easter-sunday-for-christians/
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