“Let’s Go to Church, America!’ August 2020

As a free man, endowed by my Creator with certain inalienable rights, I’m past unsettled watching other free people willingly forfeit their rights, their standing and even their sanity, specifically as it relates to church attendance in these times.

“Geez, Joal, it seems like you’re about to get all political on us.”

Rest assured, I am not. Instead, I will get Constitutional. Politics, as we know it in these modern, rancor-filled moments, will not appear here. I’m not going to refer to platforms and ideologies of what the latest liberal, newly elected, talking head spouts and demands that I believe.I refuse to bow and kiss the ring. 

I’m also not going to concern myself here with the stodgy, head-in-the-sand, more conservative politician who wants to guffaw and act like what we’re facing will take care itself. There’s a foolishness to being a stick in the mud. I refuse to embrace that stance, as well.

Let me quote two Governors to make a point and, please understand, in making this point, I’m speaking to true, patriotic Americans from both sides of the aisle who believe wholeheartedly in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, especially those who are church-goers. And this actually applies to all organized worship, whether your book is the Tanakh, the Qaran or my life-defining choice, the Holy Bible. This is specific to all of them because, lately, out of fear...or apathy...or ignorance many have willingly ceded their rights to free worship and free speech and free assembly.  

“Gosh, Joal, in uncertain times like these it’s just prudent to stay home to not get sick or hurt others, it’s just the loving, humane thing to do. We’ll come back to church, temple or mosque when it’s safe.” 

That, friends, is what we call a Straw Man Argument and it’s laced with imputed shaming. If history is our guide, you may not have the option of returning to your house of worship as you’ve known it. If, and when, you give any level of government permission to “let” you do or not do, you may not be able to retain that freedom “when it’s all clear”.

Here’s what our country’s Founders wrote as the FIRST Amendment, the first one, meaning of prime importance: 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Hey, conservative voter, don’t just let your eyes breeze past that run-on sentence. It has critical pieces and parts embedded in there. Also, to my more left-leaning-than-me friends, keep your eye-rolling in check; the founders realized those who would constrain and even deny freedom to ANY citizen were a threat to ALL Americans; they clearly knew this even 240 years ago.

It is true I lean to the right on nearly every major issue. I want the government to fundamentally leave me alone and simply provide for the common defense, defeating enemies that seek our undoing and extinction. Then we come to this unprecedented moment in modern history where the virus, as the named enemy, has sickened and even killed. I absolutely believe the virus is real. It’s also proving to be astoundingly clear that more than 99% recover from the virus. It’s the recovering of other lost pieces that may not be so easy as citizens willingly forfeit their rights.

The virus didn’t close schools, businesses and churches. State Governors and local governments did that. They have disrupted all of civic life, business, schools and now even churches. They’ve attempted to stop Constitutionally protected worship in an effort “to protect us”. Yet, unlike a warring army or terrorist attack, our politicians can’t see this virus threat, they don’t know how to stop it and they’re not sure it can be stopped; yet Governors, especially in places like Pennsylvania and California, seem enthralled with the idea that they can dictate how we, free people, live our lives. They close businesses, government services and yes, churches, with seemingly no thought for the “how and when”. 

It’s not the Federal government in the form of the Congress and President, but rather State governments and Governors who are exceeding their reach. As a clear example, the Los Angeles Times reported on July 13, 2020: “Gov. Gavin Newsom announced statewide restrictions Monday to again halt all indoor dining and close bars, zoos and museums. At the same time, most counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside, will be forced to shutter gyms, houses of worship, hair salons, malls and other businesses under the new order, which is effective immediately and remains in effect indefinitely.”

Do you see it? 

Two key words: Immediately and Indefinitely. 

Even before Newsom, there was Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania. When this whole row started, it was back on April 3, 2020 that Wolf said "Religious leaders are encouraged to find alternatives to in-person gatherings and to avoid endangering their congregants. Individuals should not gather in religious buildings or homes for services or celebrations until the stay-at-home order is lifted."

So, he’s ordering the closure of houses of worship until he deems it’s safe?! 

By some misapplied understanding of authority, with the stroke of a pen, free people are being told what, when and how they will be required to live. Apparently, Governors Newsom and Wolf failed to read the First Amendment where it clearly says they can’t prohibit free people, especially in the free exercise of religion. 

“But, Joal, they’re just doing that to protect us. We don’t want to make anyone sick. They’re doing that for our good.”

Catch yourself, friends.You and I do not need anyone to keep us “safe” according to their dictates. We are free people. You and I take risks every day. Somehow, I’ve managed nearly 5 decades on the planet without the government dictating my lifestyle and seeking to protect me more than just “providing for the common defense” in times of war. The very first moment you hand any of your freedoms and God-given, inalienable rights to any level of government, you begin the dissolution of liberty. 

Back to both my eye-rolling friends and my head-in-the-sand friends: Liberty must be defended. Patrick Henry was right: “Give me liberty or give me death.” Go back and read his now infamous speech from March 23, 1775. The parallels are striking; so many in his day were content to shrink back and he was calling them to a greater, truer experience of life as God intended: liberty!

But HOW, you ask?

How do we properly respond to our officials infringing our rights, especially as it relates to worship and church and matters of conscience?

By doing things free people do. Run your business. Open your school. Move about freely. And for the love of Pete, go to church every week, keep them open and operating! That’s a spiritual health decision, as well as a tell-the-government-to-step-aside-as-they-have-no-jurisdiction-here approach. 

We can disagree in America and still all be free. Some want to quash my rights and your rights at various times and in endless ways; but that’s simply not who we are as Americans. We ALL have freedom of speech, press, and peaceable assembly but BEFORE all of that, we ALL have the freedom to not have worship infringed upon, in any way, by any portion or level of government. 

I truly believe we are all able to navigate life wisely. I trust you to act wisely; you can trust me to be smart in the way I live near you. We can run our businesses, our schools and our houses of worship in risk-mitigating ways. At the church my family attends (which has re-opened!), we operate now with socially distanced rows, wearing masks, not shaking hands and moving around each other carefully. It can be done. No, strike that; it must be done! It comes down to the question of “what are you willing to forfeit to be (supposedly) safe?” As for me and mine, we will choose to worship with the people of God weekly.