California Court Rules John MacArthur’s Church Must Comply With County Ban On Religious Services

California’s Grace Community Church and its head pastor, John MacArthur, won the right to continue meeting in person for worship on Friday after state ordinances deemed religious services as unessential, but it was quickly overruled by an emergency order enacted by the California Court of Appeals the next day, making it again illegal for the church to meet indoors. 

“At this very preliminary stage in this litigation, the County has demonstrated a likelihood that it will prevail on the merits of enforcing its July 18, 2020, Health Order,” the three judges wrote in the opinion on Saturday.

The county of Los Angeles attempted to file a “temporary restraining order,”’ but Judge James Chalfant sided with Grace and “denied almost all of the county’s requests” claiming that the church “should be permitted to infringe on the constitutionally protected rights of churches to freely exercise religion” as long “congregants wear masks and social distance between family groups indoors.” A full hearing will be held on September 4, 2020. 

Grace Community Church has been embroiled in litigation since they first defied California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s orders to cease indoor gatherings in certain counties in early July.