Minnesota Ends Church Capacity Restrictions -- But Maintains The Six Foot Rule

On the heels of Dr Fauci telegraphing that the CDC may soon revise its guidelines over social distancing comes news that Minnesota has dropped all capacity restrictions for houses of worship, while maintaining that same social distancing requirement. As one headline put it, "Dominoes are falling."

"The dominoes are falling in favor of abolishing the states’ limitations on church attendance," Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal said in a statement. "Minnesota has abolished its church attendance limitations. Next, our plan is to similarly abolish all the other states’ remaining limitations on church attendance, which have been occurring nationwide."

The Thomas More Society was involved in a lawsuit that challenged coronavirus-related restrictions on religious services in Minnesota. The state relented last week, ending capacity restrictions while maintaining social distancing requirements.

. . . "State-imposed limits on church attendance are never constitutionally okay," he added. "Governor Walz’s requirements on churches even included criminal penalties for noncompliance with his dictates. What? Were Minnesota courts going to put all the pastors in jail for church attendance during a pandemic?"

Two things strike me about this. The first, and the best news, is that in the US, the system has been working, however slowly, to maintain natural rights protections provided in the Constitution. Governors like Walz, Newsom, and Cuomo who attempt to violate these natural rights are clearly subject to both political and legal remedies. The result has been that in the US, there have been almost no large-scale anti-lockdown demonstrations,, which have become increasingly common in Canada, the UK, and Europe, and absent a vigorous tradition of insistence on natural rights, have been pretty much feckless in those places.

The other thing that strikes me, though, is how pusillanimous the response of the US authorities has been to each reestablishment of natural-rights protection. Minnesota drops any capacity limitations on churches, but it insists on keeping social distancing requirements, no matter the shaky basis on which these have been imposed, and no matter the bleak outlook for their continuance.

A quick web serch shows that safety-sign vendors have many products available now to warn churchgoers of the need to observe the distances. These are, of course, products offered for sale by businesses, and the churches are free to buy them or not. But I assume that if those who sold them thought there wasn't a market, they wouldn't sell these things. Their tone is remarkably forbidding and stentorian. Somebody thinks it's a good idea to frighten churchgoers into martial law style regimentation. Surely someone can come up with a more welcoming, less reproving sign.

I note, in fact, that public health authorities have been very reluctant to surrender any tiny part of their emergency powers. The remarkably rapid improvement of COVID numbers in Los Angeles somehow does not make the health director happy, and relaxations of the regime are micromanaged in incredible detail:

The seven-day average number of daily cases by episode date continues to decrease, and as of March 14 is under 500 new cases per day. . . . While the majority of the L.A. County population has not yet been vaccinated, the increasing rate of vaccination likely is beginning to reduce transmission.

. . . Public Health made additional modifications to the Health Officer Order. The revised Order was issued on March 19, and took effect on March 20, with the following changes:

• Breweries, Wineries and Craft Distilleries that do not provide a meal may open for outdoor service only with certain restrictions, including:

  • All guests must have reservations;

  • Guests are limited to a 90-minute time limit for their visit;

  • Guests must be seated at tables before they place their order, and are not permitted to stand or congregate with others;

  • And hours are limited with service for on-site consumption closing by 8:00 pm.

It doesn't end there, the regulations go on and on -- in a situation where the news is steadily improving and the need for such a regime is steadily disappearing. In California, the decline in COVID numbers is resulting in counties entering looser and looser restriction tiers in a matter of weeks for each phase -- with the result that these ridiculously detailed circumscriptions will likely be moot in a few weeks time.

Still the the bureaucrats push on. But every sign is that we're entering the "morning after" phase of a moral panic. Let's pray for the time to arrive when all these artifacts are simply a historical curiosity.