Radio Recap – BREAKING: ACLJ Files Injunction Motion to Block Enforcement of Church Singing Ban

By 

Jordan Sekulow

|
July 27, 2020

3 min read

Religious Liberty

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The ACLJ fights back against California’s church singing ban.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live, we discussed our filing for an injunction to block the enforcement of California’s arbitrary church singing bang. The ACLJ is taking decisive action to fight for religious liberty.

It happened on Friday evening. We filed a preliminary injunction motion against California Governor Gavin Newsom, the California health commissioner, and two different county health commissioners because of the singing ban California put in place, specifically on churches or places of worship. It’s important to note these are in counties where churches are still allowed to meet in person. There are also still areas of California where churches cannot even open.

This ban actually came out at the beginning of June in what at first glance looked like a guideline or a recommendation. The state can recommend whatever it wants whether you like it or not, but recommendations are not mandates. But this was a mandate specifically directed at places of worship and only targeted at them, not any other business or organization that has been allowed to open. If your restaurant is allowed to open, you’re free to have singing and chanting if you choose.

By the way, the chanting part of the ban not only affects certain Christian denominations, but Judaism, Islam, and other faiths.

When you start looking at the language, it is clearly not a recommendation, it is an order. According to the verbiage, the ban is mandatory. The order is titled COVID-19 INDUSTRY GUIDANCE: Places of Worship and Providers of Religious Services and Cultural Ceremonies and signed off on by Governor Newsom and his appointee, the California Commissioner of Health. Just a few pages in, the order states:

Places of worship must therefore discontinue indoor singing and chanting activities and limit indoor attendance to 25% of building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower.

The capacity rules were already in effect and they added the singing and chanting ban to that.

So the ACLJ filed in court. Now we’ve taken the next step which is to file a motion seeking a preliminary injunction. We have a moral obligation to defend the rights of churches and believers to sing as they are commanded by Scripture.

We couldn’t fight for religious liberty and against arbitrary church singing bans without your help. We’re nearing the end of our Matching Challenge month and the deadline is fast approaching. Donations during the Matching Challenge are doubled by a group of very generous donors. That means $10 becomes $20. $20 becomes $40.

We need your help to keep up the fight for freedom and religious liberty. Please considering donating today.

The full broadcast is complete with much more discussion of the actions the ACLJ is taking to protect religious liberty as well as updates on the work we are doing to help families and students.

Watch the full broadcast below.