Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church sue state of California, Gov. Newsom, Mayor Garcett

[PeteS in CA]

Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church sue state of California, Gov. Newsom, Mayor Garcetti over church closure

https://disrn.com/news/pastor-john-macarthur-grace-community-church-sue-state-of-california

Influential Pastor John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, are suing the state of California, Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and several other public health officials.

The lawsuit, filed by Thomas More Society Special Counsel Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri, seeks to stop the state from enforcing its order forbidding the megachurch from meeting for indoor worship services, arguing that the regulations violate the California Constitution.

Press release from the Thomas More Society:

The suit seeks to prohibit California from enforcing its unconstitutional and onerous coronavirus pandemic regulations against Grace Community Church and seeks a judgment that the health orders violate the California Constitution.

The complaint states that the American people have begun to see that they are being cheated by their own government. "They have witnessed how the onerous restrictions imposed on them by public officials to allegedly fight the COVID-19 pandemic simply do not apply to certain, favored groups. When many went to the streets to engage in ‘political protests' against ‘racism' and ‘police brutality,' these protestors refused to comply with the pandemic restrictions. Instead of enforcing the public health orders, public officials were all too eager to grant a de facto exception for these favored protestors."

Ummmm, wow! John MacArthur is going there - city, county, and state governments' encouragement of the BLM/Antifa "protests", i.e. selective enforcement and violation of CA's equivalent of the Free Exercise clause. I'm not a MacArthur fan, for entirely unrelated reasons, but I think this is the right move at the right time.

[mountaineer]

Someone had to do it. Can't wait to see how this plays out.

[PeteS in CA]

California church defies pandemic order, holds Sunday services after winning court ruling

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/california-church-defies-pandemic-order-holds-sunday-services-after-winning

After winning a temporary court battle, Pastor John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church in California held indoor Sunday services despite local officials orders to shut the evangelical Christian church down over pandemic restrictions.

“They don’t want us to meet, that’s obvious,” MacArthur told his flock. “They’re not willing to work with us. They just want to shut us down. But we’re here to bring honor to the Lord.”

MacArthur has led the Los Angeles-area church for a half-century and on Friday went to court to challenge a public health order forbidding indoor services at the 3,500-seat megachurch. Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis is helping to defend the church.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant refused Friday to issue a temporary restraining order sought by the county to block this Sunday's services. MacArthur has agreed to ensure churchgoers practice social distancing and wear masks. The next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4.

[truth_seeker]

I wished that I had started an event tent business.

There are plenty of potential  customers.

Businesses and churches  would but them.

And it wouldn't be that hard to make them.

I am using a gym, which found or made some, for five sites.  YMCA of Orange County. A truly Non-profit Org, as well.



I have been a member for many years when I had business offices near one or more facility. Certainly the best "bang for the buck

[PeteS in CA]

Calif. COVID Bullies Tried to Slap John MacArthur With Contempt. It Backfired.

https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/08/21/calif-covid-bullies-tried-to-slap-john-macarthur-with-contempt-it-backfired-n822071

Grace Community Church and Pastor John MacArthur have brought a powerful court challenge against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-Calif.) ban on in-person church meetings. Grace Community Church has refused to comply with the ban, its congregation exercising their First Amendment rights of religious freedom and free association. Los Angeles County filed a motion asking a judge to find Grace Community Church in contempt of court, but the judge flatly denied the motion.

“Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff correctly found there is no court order prohibiting Grace Community Church from holding indoor services,” Jenna Ellis, one of MacArthur’s lawyers who also served as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer during the impeachment trial, said in a statement Thursday. “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,” Ellis explained. “We will simply continue to defend our client’s constitutionally protected rights because church is essential.”
...
MacArthur’s lawsuit is challenging the health department’s coronavirus restrictions banning the church from meeting in person. While the appeals court allowed the health department to enforce those restrictions, it did not issue a restraining order against the church. The City of Los Angeles has previously threatened Grace Community Church and MacArthur with a daily fine of $1,000 or arrest.
...
Why didn’t the city merely enforce the health order and issue the fines? Perhaps Los Angeles’s lawyers are afraid they will lose the lawsuit. If the city issues fines and arrests MacArthur and his congregation, not only would that provide a concrete and visceral example of the county’s oppressive crackdown on religious freedom but it would also increase the amount of damages awarded to MacArthur and GCC if they prevail in the case.

LA County will be getting in spades what they tried to evade.

[LegalAmerican]

Good for Pastor John.  Much respect. 

[PeteS in CA]

An update:

Judge Once Again Refuses To Shut Down In-Person Worship At Los Angeles County Church

https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/08/27/judge-refuses-shut-person-worship-los-angeles-county-church/

Earlier this week, we looked at the story of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California and Pastor John MacArthur’s battle with the county and the state over holding in-person, indoor services at his church. Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff had ruled in favor of the church based on the fact that there were “no previous court rulings” forbidding the church from holding such services. But at the same time, the judge left open the question of whether or not the county could impose fines of up to $20,000 on the church for violating executive orders issued by the county government regarding large assemblies during the pandemic.

Now the second round of appeals has been heard and Judge Beckloff appears content to allow things to continue as they have been thus far. The county had moved to request a restraining order on the pastor, preventing him from continuing to hold indoor services. The judge shot them down yet again, but he still failed to rule on the larger question of whether or not the county’s rules violated the church’s First Amendment rights. Instead, he went with yet another technical argument.

I think the judge doesn't want to make the big decision. Maybe he's hoping LA County and Grace will work out something mutually amicable, or that one or the other will throw in the towel.

I doubt the latter will happen. Bureaucrats fancy themselves as above the US Constitution, and intend to crush those that don't bow down to them. On the other hand, the bureaucrats have forced Grace into a, "We must obey God rather than man," corner. While I don't think MacArthur wanted this confrontation and would rather have worked out something voluntary and flexible, I don't think MacArthur will back down.

[mountaineer]

We'll get 'em one way or another, by golly, sez L.A. County.

Los Angeles County Evicts Grace Community Church From Parking Lot
By  Todd Starnes -
August 30, 2020

For the past 45 years Grace Community Church has leased a large portion of its parking lot from Los Angeles County.

On Friday the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works terminated that agreement – no doubt in retaliation for the church invoking its Constitutional rights to gather for Sunday worship.

“If Grace fails to vacate the premise as required, the District may enter the premises and remove Grace’s personal property,” the letter said.

The California mega-church was given 30-days to to vacate the property. The church had been paying $8301.41 per month to use the parking lot. ...

Full story

[deb]

This saddens and angers me to no end. But I have no doubt that the pastors and elders will figure something out regarding the parking situation.

Hubby and I have been to Grace Community several times. It’s a wonderful, sound church. It’s huge, but the people are very welcoming. John MacArthur is the Spurgeon of this era, IMHO.

[mountaineer]

John McArthur:  The government has no right to tell a church it can’t meet. That’s an unalienable right from God. They’re violating the Constitution when they tell the church how, where, or when it can meet. Also, the requirements for us to meet outdoors are so unreasonable, vast, and complex as to make meeting essentially impossible. If we were to follow them, we’d just cancel church. We’ve tried to be sensible and say, “You’re adults. You decide if you want to come.”
World Magazine

[PeteS in CA]

I'm thinking that retaliating for challenging LA County in court may not have been the wisest move. The eviction could be challenged and tied up in court as retaliation for asserting Constitutional rights. And in the original court case this retaliation would be evidence that LA County's violation of Grace's Constitutional rights is willful.

The constitutionality of Newsom's order is being challenged in multiple cases around the state. And as I keep saying, this is a confrontation government should not have initiated. No one will win, no matter the outcome. Communities benefit from governments and churches and synagogues and temples and ... working together for the good of the community. Regardless of who wins in court, communities lose because of the alienation and distrust that was engendered by government initiating this conflict.

My church does a LOT of community projects through the year and does a lot with the school district in which the church campus is located. I cannot speak for my church, but I will be giving thought to projects in which I volunteer, whether the direct benefit is to Santa Clara County or to schools or residents or NGO charities. Santa Clara County has come down on at least two churches in Silicon Valley (one of which is mentioned in another thread).

[PeteS in CA]

'The Very Definition of Tyranny': Court Upholds LA County's Ban on John MacArthur's Church Services

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/09/10/the-very-definition-of-tyranny-court-upholds-la-countys-ban-on-john-macarthurs-church-services-n917692

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff ruled against Grace Community Church and its pastor, John MacArthur, issuing a preliminary injunction allowing Los Angeles County to ban indoor church services. MacArthur’s lawyers, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and Thomas More Society lawyer Charles LiMandri, announced their intention to appeal at the earliest opportunity.

“Although this is a temporary setback, we will continue to fight for Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Church’s constitutionally protected right to hold church,” Ellis said in a statement. “Church is essential, and no government agent has the runaway, unlimited power to force churches to close indefinitely. The County’s argument was basically ‘because we can,’ which is the very definition of tyranny.”

“Without limiting government’s power in favor of freedom and protected rights, we have no liberty. We will fight for religious freedom, as our founders did when they wrote the First Amendment,” Ellis added.

While Ellis noted that the judge went “out of his way to repeatedly state that he is not ruling on the merits,” LiMandri excoriated the court for failing to address the church’s serious legal concerns.

An unwise and unjust ruling.

[PeteS in CA]

BREAKING: John MacArthur's Religious Freedom Case Is Headed to Trial

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/09/24/breaking-john-macarthurs-religious-freedom-case-is-headed-to-trial-n965138

On Thursday, a Los Angeles superior court judge again ruled against LA County, delaying a decision on whether or not to find Grace Community Church (GCC) and Senior Pastor John MacArthur in contempt of court and declaring that the church and the pastor deserve a trial for their lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newson’s (D-Calif.) and Los Angeles’ coronavirus restrictions preventing indoor church services. Since LA’s superior court will not hold civil trials until January 2021, this decision effectively allows GCC to keep holding church services until next year.

MacArthur and his church have challenged lockdown orders from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) and LA County while continuing to meet in person. LA County had tried — no fewer than four times — to convince judges to issue restraining orders preventing the church from gathering in person.

Rather than enforcing the existing health order, which imposes a fine of $1,000 and jail time, the county has sought court orders, ostensibly to shift blame to the court but also to penalize the church further. The county has asked a judge to find MacArthur and his church in contempt of court, which would cost the church more than $20,000 and attorney’s fees. Courts repeatedly rejected these shenanigans until Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff issued a preliminary injunction allowing LA County to ban indoor church services on September 10. The church has also appealed that injunction.

LA County sure has it in for Grace Community, to a degree that a civil rights suit might be appropriate. LA County would do far better to work out some sort of modus vivendi that satisfies the county's facts-based concerns with churches' rights to assemble and of Free Exercise. This kind of antagonism can only hurt churches and the county (and its cities) alike.