Tag Archives: Religious Discrimination

U.S. Supreme Court sides with challenge to California’s COVID-19 religious service curbs

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a blow to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s pandemic-related ban on indoor religious services, siding with a church that defied the policy and challenged it as unconstitutional religious discrimination.

The decision followed a similar action by the justices on Nov. 25 that backed Christian and Jewish houses of worship that challenged New York state restrictions in coronavirus hot spots.

The justices, with no noted dissents, set aside a lower court ruling that rejected a challenge to Newsom’s policy by Harvest Rock Church Inc, which has several campuses in the state, and Harvest International Ministries Inc, an association of churches. Both are based in Pasadena, a city in Los Angeles County.

The justices directed the lower court to reconsider the case in light of their ruling in the New York case.

California’s pandemic-related restrictions have evolved throughout the year. Newsom, a Democrat, initially ordered houses of worship to be closed completely in March as part of a broad stay-at-home directive. Some restrictions were lifted in the spring, but new curbs were introduced in July after a surge in cases, which was when Harvest Rock Church first sued.

The state’s current plan imposed county-specific limits based on the number of COVID-19 cases. Under the policy, houses of worship in the worst-hit areas could not hold indoor gatherings but could do so outdoors. In other counties, houses of worship could have indoor events with capacity restrictions.

The state imposed similar restrictions on what it called comparable businesses and activities such as museums, movie theaters and restaurants that also draw crowds of people.

In the New York case, the justices said the New York restrictions “single out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment” in part by allowing various businesses to operate indoors without the same occupancy restrictions.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Texas judge allows ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ poster to go back up

Attorney General Ken Paxton during Christmas

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A Texas judge ordered a school district to allow for the display of a poster inspired by the animated holiday television cartoon “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” that the district had banned because it had a Christian message, state officials said on Thursday.

The poster put up this month at a middle school in the central Texas city of Killeen had became a flashpoint in the state’s culture wars.

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, a conservative Christian, said the school district had unlawfully stamped out religious expression when it banned the poster, and his office filed legal papers against the district to put it back up.

The poster from nurse’s aide Dedra Shannon included a hand-drawn cartoon figure of “Peanuts” character Linus and a quote from the half century-old animated TV show that has been a staple of the holiday season.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. … That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” the text read.

On Wednesday, the school board voted to ban the poster’s display on the grounds that it could offend students who do not have the same religious views as Christians.

“Religious discrimination towards Christians has become a holiday tradition of sorts among certain groups,” Paxton said, adding, “I am glad to see that the court broke through the left’s rhetorical fog.”

The district said the ruling from the Bell County 146th District Court required that text must be added to the poster saying it is “Ms. Shannon’s Christmas Message.”

“We believe that directing the individual to include the additional text better complies with state and federal law,” the district said in a statement. “We support this decision.”

Matt Angle, director of the left-leaning Lone Star Project that is often critical of Paxton, saw the attack against the school district as being a “cynical smokescreen.”

“Ken Paxton is exploiting people of faith in order to distract from his own criminal indictment,” Angle said.

Paxton is facing securities fraud charges that can bring up to 99 years in prison if he is convicted. He is expected to go on trial next year.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)