(ChurchLeaders) A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction to two churches in Colorado, exempting them from state orders saying that houses of worship must limit attendance and require attendees to wear masks. Judge Daniel D. Domenico’s ruling on the Colorado mask mandate and worship attendance limits centers on the argument that the state of Colorado is treating houses of worship differently from businesses or secular gatherings.
“The court does not doubt that the State made these decisions in good faith, in an effort to balance the benefits of more public interaction against the added risk that inheres in it,” said Domenico in his ruling issued Oct. 15. “But the Constitution does not allow the State to tell a congregation how large it can be when comparable secular gatherings are not so limited, or to tell a congregation that its reason for wishing to remove facial coverings is less important than a restaurant’s or spa’s.”