4 ms·

Church / Religious gatherings are exempted, which is, insane. In SF, I think all religious services have moved to Zoom-style video format with very positive fe

by davidu 7y ago

Church / Religious gatherings are exempted, which is, insane. In SF, I think all religious services have moved to Zoom-style video format with very positive feedback from what I am hearing.

sschueller 7y ago
Worst are the bowls of holy water which everyone touches.
Spooky23 7y ago
My church in NY did this starting 3/15. If the Catholic church is ahead of the curve, you know you're behind!
anoonmoose 7y ago
Holy crap, I had to look this up because I didn't believe it. "Religious services" are actually the first defined type of "essential activities"...and Texas' governor just did the same. Wow, this is incredibly foolish.
- tropo 7y ago
  Any stay-at-home order which stopped religious services would be found in violation of the US Constitution's first amendment. It's possible a judge would throw out the whole stay-at-home order. To have a stay-at-home order that survives in court, exempting religious services is necessary.
  - Gibbon1 7y ago
    Can't shout fire in a crowded theater. And no particular religion is being singled out.
  - anoonmoose 7y ago
    I am just not certain that this is true. The 1A also protects protests- am I allowed to organize gatherings of 10+ people for the purpose of a protest? I believe not. The 1A is comprehensive; it is not all-powerful.
r00fus 7y ago
That is essentially not a stay-at-home order.
tialaramex 7y ago
The major religions didn't survive thousands of years by being inflexible in the face of reality. What you'll see over and over in a long-term successful religion is basically "Well, obviously The Crazy Stuff We Believe is true, but we do need to be pragmatic and not necessarily act as though it's true". The type of preacher who stands by their belief that God will protect them from being shot in the head gets to find out the hard way that bullets don't give a shit what you believe and so their sect won't survive to dominate. That's how you get the situation where the Pope, who is the head of a Christian sect (Roman Catholics) who very specifically believe that you need priests as intermediaries to God, tells his fellow believers no, don't meet in a church with a priest where you will get yourselves infected and die, stay home - instead pray directly to God, he's everywhere, so that will work even though our religion says otherwise. But the US in particular is home to a lot of hucksters for whom religion is a way to separate the gullible from their wealth. For them the fact that a bunch of those worshippers may die, rather than being destitute, isn't a deal breaker - but going without tax-free "donations" for a few months isn't what they want, so you can be sure they'll want people to keep showing up and giving every penny they can.

by davidu 7y ago

Church / Religious gatherings are exempted, which is, insane. In SF, I think all religious services have moved to Zoom-style video format with very positive feedback from what I am hearing.

sschueller 7y ago

Worst are the bowls of holy water which everyone touches.

Spooky23 7y ago

My church in NY did this starting 3/15. If the Catholic church is ahead of the curve, you know you're behind!

anoonmoose 7y ago

Holy crap, I had to look this up because I didn't believe it. "Religious services" are actually the first defined type of "essential activities"...and Texas' governor just did the same. Wow, this is incredibly foolish.

tropo 7y ago
Any stay-at-home order which stopped religious services would be found in violation of the US Constitution's first amendment. It's possible a judge would throw out the whole stay-at-home order. To have a stay-at-home order that survives in court, exempting religious services is necessary.
- Gibbon1 7y ago
  Can't shout fire in a crowded theater. And no particular religion is being singled out.
- anoonmoose 7y ago
  I am just not certain that this is true. The 1A also protects protests- am I allowed to organize gatherings of 10+ people for the purpose of a protest? I believe not. The 1A is comprehensive; it is not all-powerful.

r00fus 7y ago

That is essentially not a stay-at-home order.

tialaramex 7y ago

The major religions didn't survive thousands of years by being inflexible in the face of reality. What you'll see over and over in a long-term successful religion is basically "Well, obviously The Crazy Stuff We Believe is true, but we do need to be pragmatic and not necessarily act as though it's true". The type of preacher who stands by their belief that God will protect them from being shot in the head gets to find out the hard way that bullets don't give a shit what you believe and so their sect won't survive to dominate. That's how you get the situation where the Pope, who is the head of a Christian sect (Roman Catholics) who very specifically believe that you need priests as intermediaries to God, tells his fellow believers no, don't meet in a church with a priest where you will get yourselves infected and die, stay home - instead pray directly to God, he's everywhere, so that will work even though our religion says otherwise. But the US in particular is home to a lot of hucksters for whom religion is a way to separate the gullible from their wealth. For them the fact that a bunch of those worshippers may die, rather than being destitute, isn't a deal breaker - but going without tax-free "donations" for a few months isn't what they want, so you can be sure they'll want people to keep showing up and giving every penny they can.