🚨 Ask your Rep to Protect our Churches

It’s almost been six months since the start of the COVID-19 induced shutdowns. Among the closures were those of our churches. Even with reopening efforts, states have instituted quotas on church service attendance, restrictions limiting communion, fellowship, and even singing. While the conversation has shifted from “flatten the curve,” the limits on our church services don’t seem to be going anywhere. This has left many Americans questioning the “good” intentions of our lawmakers who seemed to treat the often-violent Black Lives Matter protests or even businesses with different standards than churches. While these protests violated every social distancing rule, our churches have been met with more scrutiny from both our leaders and the main-stream media. California’s Grace Community Church, pastored by John MacArthur, issued a statement citing this irony:

“For a state like California to decide that abortion providers, marijuana dispensaries, and liquor stores are "essential" while churches are forced to the back of the line via a seemingly endless series of moving goalposts and ever more restrictive hoops to jump through, is the very essence of upside-down Romans 1 immorality. We stand against it plainly, and moving forward, we are striving to pursue every biblical and legal means to oppose it…”

While MacArthur’s church initially decided to comply with California’s reissued stay-at-home directives, their response changed. In another statement entitled the, “Biblical Case for the Church’s Duty to Remain Open,” Grace Church stated that, “Therefore, following the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, we gladly choose to obey Him.” In other words, the church reopened with record attendance, despite restrictions on California churches.

It has become increasingly apparent for the need to provide legal protections for our First Amendment right. In response, Oklahoma Representative Kevin Hern (R) introduced The Equal Opportunity First Amendment Act, H.R. 7875. The legislation simply ensures that the First Amendment is applied equally to all groups in a state of emergency declaration. If a state discriminates against a certain group or groups, the individuals may pursue a private right of action. Please join Eagle Forum in asking your Representative to cosponsor The Equal Opportunity First Amendment Act. It is vital that our regulations and laws protect our Constitutional rights.

Original cosponsors include Representatives Jim Banks, Doug Lamborn, Bob Gibbs, H. Morgan Griffith, Bill Flores, Ted Budd, David P. Roe, Jim Baird, Ralph Norman, Michael Guest, Ben Cline, Jody Hice, Rick Allen, Dan Bishop, Brian Babin, Jeff Duncan, Greg Steube, Louie Gohmert, Dan Meuser, Robert Aderholt, William Timmons, and Mark Green. And, a current list of cosponsors can be viewed here.