Thursday, April 9, 2020

Tarrant County Judge Bans Church, Violates Texas Governor Order, Should be held in Contempt


Yesterday afternoon, Robby Montoya broke news that the Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley had banned all in person church services. Specifically, Judge Whitley posted up on social media that he was not allowing in-person church services.
This ban of in person religious services is a DIRECT violation of Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Executive Order which allows for religious services. I wrote an article recently about Governor Abbott’s order which declared religious services as essential and removed authority of county and local officials from restricting essential services more than what Governor Abbott had allowed during the CoronaVirus COVID-19 emergency.
This virus is a serious issue with drastic measures needed to be taken and are being taken, but the Constitution does not get suspended. The Constitution is above all laws and orders. The government cannot ban religious services. The government could highly recommend going online for religious services if possible, which the governor has. The government can order social distancing and sanitation measures if in person religious services are needed, which the governor has. There are many other measures that can be taken to safely practice religion, however, the government CANNOT ban religious services. The Governor understands that the Constitution must be upheld while at the same time measures be enacted to slow the spread of the CoronaVirus COVID-19.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley directly violated Greg Abbott’s order, and violates the Constitution, by banning all in person religious services, and he should be held in contempt.
Judge Whitley has no problem issuing orders and threatening jail time and fines if his order is violated; well politicians should be held to the same standard, right? Judge Whitley has violated the Governor’s order so he should be held to the same standard and face fines or jail time for violating the Governor’s order, right?
Who else is tired of politicians declaring a do as I say but not as I do attitude and issuing completely hypocritical and nonsensical orders? They declare you must follow their rules, but then they appear on the news for press releases flanked from left to right with their other political friends who want air time too. Well if you can do much of church online now or business meetings on video conference then why not do a press release online or on video conference? Why meet in person with your other press release TV personalities?
Some of these orders are just outright hypocritical and unreasonable. You shouldn’t go to see your pastor about a serious issue and keep a good distance from him while y’all talk in an open parking lot, but you can go to a liquor store for beer or to get plants for a garden at Lowes while standing in line 6 feet apart after having passed 50 people in the aisles and touched all the stuff that everyone else is touching and then touching the credit card pad that everyone else that day has touched. I must have forgotten the part in the Constitution about freedom to plant a flower but not freedom of religion. The virus must not be able to pass to other people if you are getting flowers at the store, only when you go talk to your pastor right? It is all ridiculous and hypocritical and nonsensical.
And another thing, just because one person loves church online doesn’t mean another person has the capability to do online services, or God forbid maybe the other person WANTs to or HAS TO go meet in person with their pastor for religious services. Just because one person is fine with church online, does not mean they should impose their beliefs on others who believe they need to go in person for religious services. If you are worried about catching the virus from a church goer, then practice what you preach and don’t get around anyone and avoid your church going friends for now while you chat it up with the crowd of unknown virus spreading people in line at the hardware store. If you stay in your home away from everyone, then you probably won’t get the virus. Much of this is self-responsibility, and ultimately, if you take care of yourself and stay away from people, then you will likely not get the virus. Bottom line, people cannot impose their desires on other people in violation of Constitutional rights. So please stop telling people not to go see their pastor while you hypocritically go run your non-essential errands.
Should we impose drastic sanitary measures and social distancing at churches like we are doing at supermarkets? Yes! But you cannot ban church just like you cannot ban people getting food at supermarkets. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating for people to meet in a large group and spread the virus, and I agree that people should stay away from each other right now to slow the spread, but I do not agree that we can toss out the Constitution and ban religious services that some people might greatly need and can do so safely with social distancing and sanitary practices. Ultimately, if you are worried about getting the virus from someone who went to see their pastor, then you can take matters into your own hands and stay away from everyone in order to take responsibility for lowering your chance of getting the virus. If I had, for instance, a child with a lung disease who was at greater risk, I would not tell people not to go to church, I would just stay in the house 24/7 to protect myself and my child until the virus passes, and not rely on making others do what I want them to do in violation of their constitutional rights. We have to be reasonable and tactical to fight the virus while still upholding the Constitution.

Breaking! Texas Governor PROHIBITS Counties & Cities from BANNING Religious Services during COVID-19


Texas Governor Greg Abbott today has just today, 3/31/2020, issued an Executive Order GA 14. This Executive Order suspends the rights of county judges and city mayors from prohibiting and banning religious services to the extent that it conflicts with what the governor has declared permissible in this coronavirus COVID-19 disaster. Specifically, the governor ordered that religious services are considered essential in the State of Texas, and therefore, cities and counties can no longer consider them non-essential to the extent of banning them, although common sense restrictions can still be in place locally to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus while not prohibiting religious services outright.
In recent weeks, there have been varying and sometimes hypocritical, unconstitutional, and conflicting orders from Texas county judges and Texas city mayors. One of the biggest points of controversy has been county judges and city mayors banning all religious services and threatening arrest of pastors. This certainly seems to violate the Constitution’s First Amendment protections of religion. These orders also seem completely hypocritical.
While there is no question that this virus is serious and steps should be taken to stop the spread of it, that does not mean the most basic constitutional rights can be violated such as banning churches. Religious services ARE essential to this great State of Texas and the United States of America. They are expressly protected by the Texas State and US Constitution.
More reasonable restrictions can be enforced in order to stop the spread. It was outrageous that people were being banned from going to see their pastor even just one on one in a parking lot, yet in these same counties which restricted religious services, you were still able to do a long list of many activities that do not even seem essential like going get beer, or in cases of essential activities, you could do them with limited restriction such as going into a crowded grocery store.
If going to a grocery store is essential, and you can go mingle with lots of people in a grocery store during these quarantines, then surely you should be able to also reasonably go to your church. Any essential activities, however, should be reasonably restricted to help stop the spread of this virus while still allowing people to eat and practice religion. Spacing requirements and no physical contact, sanitation upon entering, temperature taking upon entering, and outdoor services with a speaker system. Heck, you could probably get everyone to wear a hazmat suit. There are lots of ways to help stop the spread without violating the Constitution, and while allowing people to conduct essential activities.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott brought some common sense to the chaos today with this executive order, and he cut through the hypocrisy and contradicting orders; while at the same time, he is working to stop and slow the spread of the virus and protect the Constitution.