Faith communities launch legal action against New York Governor’s continued COVID-19 restrictions

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) –
Catholic and Jewish faith communities in New York are challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s continued imposition of COVID-19 restrictions on religious institutions despite a federal judge advising he cannot do this while allowing unrestricted mass protests, CBN News reports. On Friday, the Thomas More Society filed an Emergency Amended Complaint and Motion for Temporary Restraining Order in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York. The motion is on behalf of two Catholic priests, two Catholic school students, and four Orthodox Jewish individuals.

On October 5, Cuomo rolled out a new measure called the “Cluster Action Initiative,” in which houses of worship are restricted to limited numbers of people depending on how fast the virus is spreading their area. In a press conference, Cuomo said religious institutions “have been a problem” and that their gatherings are “super-spreaders,” CBN News reports.

According to Cuomo, religious institutions have committed violations of the numbers of people allowed to gather at one time. “I don’t mean little violations – you’re only supposed to have 50, they had 55. I’m talking about you’re only supposed to have 50 outdoors, they had 1,000,” Cuomo said.

Nevertheless, Senior US District Judge Gary Sharpe advised Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in June that they cannot impose restrictions on religious institutions while allowing mass protests to proceed without limits.

“It is a blatant violation of our clients’ right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment, including their right to be free from such explicit and brazen religious discrimination,” Thomas More Society Special Counsel Christopher Ferrara told CBN News.

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