The battle between church and state — between Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church in a Los Angeles suburb and Los Angeles County Health Department officials — took a turn on Thursday: The Los Angeles County Superior Court declared that the lower court has “no court order prohibiting” his church from continuing to hold indoor services.
And so the senior pastor will continue to hold church services without masking or social distancing, at least until formal hearings begin in September.
In a statement to The Christian Post on Friday, Jenna Ellis, special counsel for the Thomas More Society, which is defending the church against the county, said: “We are pleased with the outcome today. Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff correctly found there is no court order prohibiting Grace Community Church from holding indoor services.”
She added:
LA County continues to harass and target Pastor MacArthur.
Having failed to get a court order to shut down the church they have sought three times, they’re going to try again by hauling us back into court.
Ironically, LA County said in its application for contempt that, “Grace Church cannot thumb its nose at the court when decisions don’t go its way,” yet that’s precisely what LA County is now doing themselves.
We will simply continue to defend our client’s constitutionally protected rights because church is essential.
The threat of intervention during Sunday worship services by Los Angeles County law enforcement has, for the moment, been reduced. The date for formal hearings on the matter remains scheduled for Friday, September 4.
Image: shuang paul wang/iStock/Getty Images Plus
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American, writing primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
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