A Los Angeles Superior Court refused to block a county enforcement action against a Christian megachurch whose pastor has defied a ban on worshipping indoors during the pandemic.
Lawyers for the Grace Community Church acknowledged they were “disappointed” in Thursday’s ruling, but a spokesman confirmed Friday they would appeal.
“We will fight for religious freedom, as our founders did when they wrote the First Amendment,” Jenna Ellis, an attorney for the church and its pastor, John MacArthur, said in a statement.
On Thursday, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff granted the county’s requirement for a preliminary injunction against the church, ruling the public health officials were within their rights to enforce shutdown orders against churches that violate the social-distancing guidelines set by the county.
Rev. MacArthur has led his evangelical flock in the suburban Los Angeles church in Sunday worship services indoors since late July. L.A. County public health officials filed suit against the church in August.
Twice this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to intervene in support of churches that seek to overrule state public health orders preventing indoor worship for fear of spreading the coronavirus.
• Christopher Vondracek can be reached at cvondracek@washingtontimes.com.
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