In a further attack on religious freedom, California recently prohibited singing in churches guised under the pretense of covid mitigation. When I saw this headline, my first reaction was this is a social media hoax, but upon further research I was able to confirm it is actually what was ordered.
Citing CDC guidelines and fresh off of a Supreme Court ruling giving government wide latitude in mitigating pandemic responses, this represents a new level of hostility toward expressions of faith. Now not only are they saying if you are allowed to attend church, they are now dictating how you are and are not allowed to conduct worship.
This order was only issued for places of worship and not for singing in a grocery store or chanting at a protest, all actions which would create similar conditions but are not being consistently regulated.
We are now entering a world where the government now has cover to subjugate religious expressions that are contrary to the values those in power expose. They can now say, “this is a health emergency,” and have cover to do anything we want to silence the words and expressions that may be distasteful to our values and beliefs. Today, it is covid-19, tomorrow it may be something else dressed up as a health emergency.
I see this and grieve. I stand with those who to exercise their first amendment rights, even when their platform does not align with mine. But now, there are many who only want to protect the rights of those who agree with them. When this becomes widespread, the rights we think we have will be gone.
These concepts are explored in my books Call of Kayden and Free to Dream. As it is in today’s culture, these novels explore faith under attack when the right to practice religion disappears. And it is not something you will want to aspire to achieve.
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