(ChurchLeaders) Kentuckians who attended in-person church services on Easter had been warned: State police officers would be writing down license plate numbers and issuing self-quarantine orders to anyone who violated a ban on mass gatherings ordered by Governor Andy Beshear.
Despite that threat, about 50 people walked inside Maryville Baptist Church in Hillview, Kentucky, to worship on Sunday. Now three of them have filed a lawsuit against Beshear and other state officials, claiming their constitutional rights are being violated. The plaintiffs say they received quarantine notices after following their “sincerely held religious beliefs that in-person church attendance was required, particularly on Easter Sunday.”
In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, plaintiffs Randall Daniel, T.J. Roberts, and Sally O’Boyle say Kentucky’s action “specifically and explicitly targeted in-person religious gatherings.”