Colorado churches join push for in-person worship

An appeals court on Thursday temporarily reinstated Colorado’s COVID-19 restrictions on places of worship.

Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, issued an executive order in July limiting church gatherings to 175 people and requiring face coverings, prompting two Denver-area pastors—Bob Enyart of Denver Bible Church in Wheat Ridge and Joey Rhoads of Community Baptist Church in Brighton—to sue in August. In a 44-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Domenico, an appointee of President Donald Trump, struck down portions of the governor’s order on Oct. 15. He ruled the restrictions treated houses of worship differently than exempted warehouses, restaurants, and elementary schools where employees, diners, and students spend long periods in closed indoor settings.

Domenico dismissed the state’s argument that churches could worship without physically gathering while many businesses could function only in person: “This court does not believe government officials in any branch have the power to tell churches and congregants what is necessary to feed their spiritual needs.”

For now, the restrictions will stay in place while the appeals court considers what to do next.

Since the pandemic began, courts have wrestled with how to balance emergency powers to protect public health with First Amendment guarantees for the free exercise of religion. Challengers sometimes argue that states have targeted churches unfairly, similar to Colorado’s hostility toward baker Jack Phillips’ beliefs on Biblical marriage in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop.

Domenico dismissed such arguments of animus or bigotry against religion but cited another reason for discriminatory treatment: ignorance. He said he was convinced the state acted “in good faith,” but added, “more likely this is a manifestation of a legal culture that … ‘often struggles to understand religious practice or to take religious perspectives seriously.’”

That could prove just as problematic as outright hostility.