The First Amendment needs protecting.
Hebrews 10:24 – Consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together.
Recently, the San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone decried his city’s coronavirus protocols which he claims “unjustly repressed” the right to worship. In an opinion piece, he wrote, “I never expected that the most basic religious freedom, the right to worship—protected so robustly in our Constitution’s First Amendment—would be unjustly repressed by an American government.”
The situation in San Francisco does not stand alone. The courts have also joined in. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction against Grace Community Church, prohibiting Pastor John MacArthur from holding indoor worship services. These cases are not isolated.
For many in America, there has been a falling away from worship in general. But governments have used the restrictions of a coronavirus to further push people away from gathering to worship. The pathway back must be paved with urgent prayer—for fellow believers, for pastors and church leaders, for mayors and governors, and for the judges in the courts. The loss of freedom to gather to worship would begin the total tearing apart of the First Amendment.
Pray With Us
Heavenly Father, Your Word urges us to gather as Your people in worship. Yet for months, this has been prohibited or highly restricted because of shutdowns from the coronavirus. Even with safety plans submitted to cities, many faith communities have been denied the right to assemble. Lord, this is a right given to us by You and enshrined in our Constitution. I ask your protection over our First Amendment. I ask that there be a quick end to the virus that has heaped this suppression upon us. I ask, O God, that the man elected as our next president would stand firm for the First Amendment and our rights and protections, so that as a nation we might honor You as we gather in worship. For Jesus’ sake and in His Name,
Amen.
