Friend,

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic surges to new heights, we continue to see lawsuits demanding religious exemptions from temporary limits on large public gatherings. Now that fight has reached the United States Supreme Court.

Yesterday and this morning, AU – joined by 12 religious and interfaith organizations – filed two friend-of-the-court briefs to explain to the Supreme Court that the Constitution does not prohibit New York from including houses of worship and religious services in temporary restrictions on large, in-person gatherings.

New York’s public health order is based on science and, like the coronavirus, it does not discriminate between religious and secular gatherings. If the Supreme Court strikes down this order, the result could be a domino effect across the country, undercutting efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Click here to say that you support ending ALL unconstitutional religious exemptions to COVID-19 public-gathering bans: [link removed]

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito already gave a big clue as to where he stands on this issue. In a much-criticized speech to the Federalist Society last week, Alito openly railed against public health orders such as the one in New York.

The bottom line is, by granting religious exemptions to public health orders during this crisis, the government would be saying some Americans get special privileges based on their religious beliefs – even at the cost of risk to other people’s lives.

AU is fighting back. We have filed 38 other briefs in similar cases, and religious exemptions were ordered in only three of the cases in which we filed. Now we’ve taken our work to the Supreme Court with two briefs that explain how religious freedom for all of us is at stake.

If you oppose unconstitutional religious exemptions that put lives at risk, click here to add your name to our petition and show your support: [link removed]

To read more about AU’s ongoing efforts to protect religious freedom and public safety during the coronavirus pandemic, click here: [link removed]

Thanks for all you do,

Rob Boston
AU Senior Adviser
Editor of Church & State magazine

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