This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, October 21, 2020:
Members of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., held their first worship service on Sunday since District Court Judge Trevor McFadden granted the church “injunctive relief” from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s draconian, discriminatory, and hypocritical shutdown orders over the COVID virus.
Appropriately, the sermon was about civil government and civil disobedience, preached by Associate Pastor Bobby Jamieson.
McFadden ruled that Bowser’s “current restrictions substantially burden the Church’s exercise of religion” and so granted the church’s petition for relief.
Thirty-four Senate Republicans filed an Amicus Brief supporting the church: “The Mayor’s discrimination against houses of worship rests on a mistaken, and unconstitutional, premise that one particular exercise of free speech — a church’s desire to gather together and worship their God — is subordinate to other First Amendment-protected activities.”
Those Republicans got most of it right. The mayor’s ruling rests ultimately on a mistaken premise that the government has the right to dictate a church’s behavior. Many Christians believe this as well, drawing support for this view from Romans 13. Here’s the NIV version:
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