Dear fellow Patriots and Believers,
On September 17, 1787, our Founding Fathers signed the most influential document in American history, the U.S. Constitution. As we celebrated Constitution Day this month, we honored its framers and those who have sacrificed to defend it by going to battle ourselves with two new religious freedom cases.
We are defending Word Aflame Ministries, a church in the city of La Habra Heights which has been meeting outside and following all California and CDC guidelines. They purchased outdoor tents, rented chairs and equipment to move their services outdoors, and even used a decibel reader to ensure noise levels met legal standards. You would think that would appease government officials, right? Not exactly.
An anti-church neighbor complained to city and county officials that the weekly church services, which the neighbor referred to as “open air celebrations,” disrupted the peace and quiet of the neighborhood. The LA County Health Department visited the church and certified its compliance with all regulations. The LA County Sheriff likewise paid the church a few visits and informed the church it complied. The city, however, issued the church seven citations for noise ordinance violations.
Despite all the evidence of compliance, the city continues to threaten citations for every church service it continues to hold and levy several thousands of dollars in fines against the church. We look forward to filing a lawsuit against the city and defending Word Aflame Ministries.
The second case we are working on involves beach baptisms. Have you heard about the revival happening amid the COVID-19 lockdowns? Hundreds of people have flocked to beach baptism services to hear the word of God. Pastor Parker Green was hosting a baptism in Huntington Beach when he was criminally cited with a misdemeanor for violating social distancing guidelines. The City of Huntington Beach had no problem with Black Lives Matter protests. They even allowed Re-open California protests. However, they decided to criminalize a pastor for baptisms. This is offensive and outrageous, and we are committed to defending Pastor Green against the misdemeanor citation and demanding justice from Huntington Beach.
We know religious freedom will not protect itself, and despite the setbacks we have seen at every level of state government, we consider it our duty and honor to defend our sacred constitutional freedoms, and we persevere. With your faithful support and our trust that God is at work in our cases, we were able to hire two new attorneys so that we can continue the fight! Please be praying for our clients and our new legal team.
We cannot thank you enough for your friendship to Advocates for Faith & Freedom – your prayers and financial gifts to our legal ministry to help cover the costs associated with these lawsuits are greatly appreciated!
More Current Case Updates
Calvary Chapel Godspeak/Pastor Rob McCoy
The County of Ventura sued Godspeak and McCoy, seeking to have the church physically boarded up. The church has been continuing to meet, and the penalty has been limited to $3,000 total to date, praise God. We filed a cross-complaint this month to hold the state and county liable for their overreach. The hearing is scheduled for September 28.
Calvary Chapel San Jose/Southridge Church
We filed a lawsuit against Santa Clara County in June for limiting churches to outdoor services with 20 people and requiring churches to hand over lists of attendees for each service. The county filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which will be heard on November 11. The County has fined Calvary Chapel San Jose over $70,000 to date for not following COVID-19 orders. We are challenging those excessive and unconscionable fines.
Cross Culture Christian Church/Cornerstone Church
We sued the State and San Juaquin and Fresno counties on discriminatory treatment of churches through COVID-19 restrictions. The State filed a motion to dismiss, which will be decided by the judge on September 29.
Calvary Chapel Ukiah and Fort Bragg/River of Life Church
Together with ACLJ, we sued the State and Butte and Mendocino counties based on the unconstitutional ban of singing worship in church. We filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt enforcement of the signing ban pending the outcome of the case. Our hearing is on October 16.
Public and Private Schools
We sued the State to reopen public and private schools. We filed directly with the California Supreme Court. The Court ordered Governor Newsom to file a response to our lawsuit, but ultimately, the Court declined to hear our case. We will be starting fresh, filing lawsuits in superior courts in various counties. We also continue to defend private schools who are being sued by the government for holding in person instruction.
““The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” ”
In His Service,
Robert H. Tyler
General Counsel
