{"id":16857,"date":"2023-02-15T11:57:43","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=16857"},"modified":"2023-03-15T14:48:44","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T18:48:44","slug":"court-sides-with-christian-hymm-singers-arrested-during-outdoor-worship-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/02\/court-sides-with-christian-hymm-singers-arrested-during-outdoor-worship-gathering","title":{"rendered":"Court Sides with Christian Hymn Singers Arrested During Outdoor Worship Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16863\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16863\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/02\/gabriel-rench-moscow-idaho_03_credit-Daniel-Foucachon-youtube-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16863\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/02\/gabriel-rench-moscow-idaho_03_credit-Daniel-Foucachon-youtube-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16863\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Foucachon \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Senior United States District Judge Morrision C. England\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/us\/idaho-city-wrong-to-arrest-hymn-singers-at-outdoor-event-court.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">rejected<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0a request by city officials of Moscow, ID, to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three Christians arrested due to alleged violations of COVID-19 restrictions. Gabriel Rench, along with Sean and Rachel Bohnet of Christ Church, were\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.krem.com\/article\/news\/local\/3-arrested-moscow-church-event-no-masks-sue-city-constitutional-rights-violations\/293-933c46e2-5485-4ca8-8536-adcd105e1670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">arrested<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in September 2020 for not wearing masks during an outdoor church event. The event was deemed a \u201cworship protest\u201d by Rench, who, along with the Bohnets, was not the only person unmasked during the near-150 person event. The three individuals were released the same day and filed the lawsuit with the help of the Thomas More Society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The lawsuit stated that the arrests violated the individual\u2019s First Amendment rights, which the city\u2019s own ordinances protected. In a press release, Sean Bohnet criticized the double standards of the city\u2019s mask mandates. \u201cWe thought a city that would premeditatively break the law in order to detain and jail those lawfully not wearing masks would at least offer one to incarcerated people. However, we were in good company. Staff at the jail occasionally had no issue with letting their faces freely shine, too,\u201d he said. After the three were arrested, the Moscow City Council amended the city\u2019s emergency health ordinances so that it could also apply to political speech as well. The Bohnets\u2019 and Rench\u2019s attorneys argued such a move was unconstitutional. \u201cInstead, the city council revised its order to target myself and others who would exercise their constitutional rights. The council\u2019s actions have fragmented Moscow and increased hostility in the broader community,\u201d said Rench of the move.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In his decision to not dismiss the lawsuit, Judge England said, \u201cPlaintiffs should never have been arrested in the first place, and the constitutionality of what the City thought its Code said is irrelevant.\u201d He also added that \u201c\u2026 the City indisputably erred in interpreting its own Code, the City consequently misadvised its officers as to the Code\u2019s application, and Plaintiffs are so far reasonable in their damages requests \u2026\u201d He did state that the lawsuit did have some issues, such as trying to hold individual officers involved in the arrests responsible. He encouraged both parties to negotiate a resolution without having to \u201csee the inside of a courtroom.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The lawsuit is not the first to be turned favorably for Christians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state of California and LA County\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/news\/2021\/september\/john-macarthur-covid-settlement-california-church-grace-com.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">agreed to pay<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0John MacArthur\u2019s Grace Community Church $800,000 after the church refused to close indoor worship during the pandemic. The Thomas More Society also represented the church during its legal battle, and MacArthur stated they would be receiving the settlement money. \u201cNothing will come to us except the affirmation that the Lord preserved and protected us through this,\u201d said MacArthur.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Churches and religious institutions faced intense scrutiny and legal ramifications during the pandemic. A\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/religion\/2022\/11\/29\/how-covid-19-restrictions-affected-religious-groups-around-the-world-in-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pew Research Center<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0study found that nearly a quarter of global entities had used physical means \u201csuch as arrests and prison sentences, to enforce coronavirus-related restrictions on worship services and other religious gatherings.\u201d The\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/gabaptist.org\/a-look-at-the-treatment-of-churches-during-covid-19-shutdowns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Georgia Baptist Board<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0listed out a series of instances where churches were prohibited from even outdoor drive-in services, which were never linked to the increased spread of the virus. It also pointed out that in some areas, drive-in services were banned while drive-in restaurants were permitted to continue. It pointed out how Nevada had reopened casinos at 50% while churches were still limited to only 50 people, regardless of congregation size. The Georgia Baptist Board concluded their list, writing, \u201cPublic officials certainly have the authority to protect health and public safety, but the First Amendment \u2014 including the free exercise of religion \u2014 is not suspended during times of crisis. And unfortunately, it seems that some governments across the country are all too eager to shut down churches and single them out for worse treatment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senior United States District Judge Morrision C. England\u00a0rejected\u00a0a request by city officials of Moscow, ID, to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three Christians arrested due to alleged violations of COVID-19 restrictions. Gabriel Rench, along with Sean and Rachel Bohnet of Christ Church, were\u00a0arrested\u00a0in September 2020 for not wearing masks during an outdoor church event. The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":16863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Court Sides with Christian Hymn Singers Arrested During Outdoor Worship Gathering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Court officials in Idaho have sided with the three Christians who were arrested back in 2020 for not wearing masks during outdoor worship gathering.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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