© AP Photo/Teresa CrawfordChicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks to reporters Sunday, March 15, 2020, at O'Hare International Airport.
Dozens of churches across the country, including a handful in Illinois, participated in "Peaceably Gather Sunday," organized by Kentucky pastor Brian Gibson, which sought to defy states' coronavirus stay-at-home orders. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker's order doesn't allow more than 10 people at a place of worship.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city was prepared to enforce the orders against houses of worship that hold in-person services, and though Chicago police said there were no arrests made or citations issued Sunday, that could change in the coming days, the Chicago Tribune reports.
"The local districts are reviewing reports of large gatherings that took place today at various establishments not abiding by the Stay at Home order," Lightfoot said Sunday night in a statement. "Following that review, the Department will issue and mail citations where necessary."
Lightfoot, who defended a haircut because she is the "public face" of the city, warned arrests could be made earlier this month, saying, "We will shut you down, we will cite you, and if we need to, we will arrest you and we will take you to jail," FOX 32 reports.
Comment: See: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot warns stay-at-home violators: 'We will take you to jail, period'
Jeremy Dys, special counsel for litigation and communications at First Liberty Institute, which represented two churches in the state holding in-person services, questions Lightfoot's actions.
"Rather than criminally prosecute pastors, priests, or rabbis, why wouldn't the mayor of Chicago find creative ways for Americans to safely and prudently engage the free exercise of their religion?" Dys told Fox News. "After all, the same people who are safely social distancing at the grocery store are the same people hoping to safely return to their houses of worship."
Comment: This points out the immense hypocrisy in lockdown measures: selective enforcement. The fact is that one is coming into contact with multiple people in the grocery store, yet a church where people can easily keep the 6 foot distance rule (see picture below) is forbidden.
© Liberty CounselElim Romanian Pentecostal Church in Chicago, Ill., held a service Sunday, May 10, 2020 in defiance of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic as states begin to reopen.
"We've got social distancing, masks, no interaction, let's go in and have church," Wyrostek said. "You going to go to Walmart, Target today, let's go to church."
Willie Wilson, a local businessman, spoke against Lightfoot at a service in Philadelphia Romanian Church of God in Ravenswood, where the pastor, Florin Cimpean, called the church a "spiritual hospital" needed to help a sick and dying world.
"[Illinois Gov. J.B.] Pritzker has shown total disdain and disrespect for the church," Wilson, a former mayoral candidate against Lightfoot, said.
Cristian Ionescu, the pastor of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church in Chicago, held services with more than 100 people on Sunday after the church was denied a request for a temporary restraining order last week by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman rejected the comparison between churches and grocery stores in his ruling and, instead, said they are more comparable to schools, movie theaters or concert halls, where no people are currently gathering.
Comment: An arbitrary decision at best. And again, why are theaters, schools and concert halls not being opened. Social distancing could easily be instituted at these kinds of establishments.
The ruling came a week after another church, The Beloved Church of Lena, represented by Thomas More Society, failed in its challenge against the governor's orders.
Comment: See also: