Federal Judge Strikes Down Last US Numerical Cap On Church Attendance

Via The Federalist, I learn that US District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered Washington, DC Mayor Bowser to cease enforcing a 250-person and 25 percent capacity restriction on church attendance. Via the graphic above, which is already out of date, this was the last jurisdiction to have imposed a "maximum x and y percent, whichever is lower" type restriction, which was extremely common as of late last year. This is a continuing indication of how quickly COVID restrictions are being lifted in the US.

The suit was brought by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington. This is another indication that the successful US legal fight against limits on religious observance is being conducted entirely by Catholics, Orthodox Jews, and radical Protestant Evangelicals and Pentecostals. Main Line Protestantism is nowhere to be found, reflective of the trend Frederick Kinsman observed a century ago. It reflects similar developments among Jews. Quasi-Christian cults like Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Christian Scientists, however fervent their own beliefs, are also not in the picture.

Even the states with percentage limits are slowly liberalizing these limits. Maine and Washington state, as announced in the graphic, moved over the past week to 50% limits. California is in the process of moving by county to 50% limits. However, in light of the 37 states that now have no restrictions on houses of worship, the states that are still "loosening" now are in fact slow-walking the process. But it's a process. It's been forced on the relevant authorities by bottom-up resistance through the courts.

This article from six weeks ago suggests Canada is still far behind the US in relaxing or eliminating restrictions on worship. As of that time, a number of provinces, including British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick, had banned in-person worship entirely, while others had imposed numerical caps in the low double digits. I'll be interested to hear of updates from Canada. The best that can be gathered is that police officials there are polite in breaking up illegal services.

The US situation is evidence that existing COVID controls, where they persist, are being overtaken by events. It appears that vaccination efforts are having an effect on the disease greater than predicted, and the impression I have is that by and large, these are being efficiently conducted. Every indication is that the states that have eliminated controls entirely have not been "reckless" in doing so, as COVID statistics continue to improve.