Swiss court pauses ban on religious services in Geneva

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Switzerland’s Constitutional Chamber has ordered the suspension of a COVID-19 ban on religious gatherings in the Canton of Geneva, enabling churches in the region to resume in-person services again, Christian Post reports. The court will make a final ruling on the ban in due course but has reportedly indicated that the likelihood it will permanently strike down the ban is “high.”

The case was brought on behalf of concerned local citizens by the Alliance Defending Freedom International advocacy group, which argued that the total ban on religious services introduced to the canton on November 1 was “not proportionate” and was “discriminatory,” the Christian Post reports.

Although the COVID-19 order prohibited all religious services except small weddings and funerals in the canton of Geneva, it still permitted, among other events, public demonstrations and rehearsals for professional choirs.

In a statement to the Catholic News Agency, one of the plaintiffs Samuel Sommaruga said: “Given that other public gatherings are still permitted, we do not see the proportionality of this restriction — it targets religious groups in a discriminatory way. That is why we decided to challenge it in court.”

According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Research Center, as of Sunday Switzerland has had nearly 345,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 5,300 deaths among a population of 8.5 million, the Christian Post reports.

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