It's About Saving Lives

If you follow the news, you'll know that Governor Cuomo imposed restrictions on group gatherings in New York. Cuomo put the protocols in place for one reason: to save lives. Now, you would think religious groups would agree with this premise. However, the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America disagreed and filed a lawsuit against the restrictions. More about the rules later.

First, let us take a look at our First Amendment, in its simplest form. I'm not a legal scholar, so most of this is my understanding, however right or wrong it may be. I do believe firmly in the separation of church and state. They must remain separate entities without interference from either side.

Our founding fathers understood the European religious wars, and I believe they fashioned the First Amendment on that history, along with the intolerance of the Puritans. The latter fled England for America so they could practice their religion without interference. The Puritans wanted to purify the Church of England, to which King Charles I opposed. So, between 1630 and 1640, some 20,000 Puritans came to America to practice their religion in peace. Their community wanted to live by Biblical rules and set an example for the world.

Unfortunately, while the Puritans sought freedom, they did not practice tolerance for other religious beliefs. They slaughtered some 600 Pequot Indians when the Pequots resisted the Puritan settlement of their lands. Today, we also see this intolerance with the Evangelical Christians who believe America is a Christian country when we are not. Our leaders who wrote the Bill of Rights and Constitution founded the United States as a secular country.

The first clause in the Bill of Rights (written by James Madison) says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Thomas Jefferson said that when Americans adopted the establishment clause, they build a "wall of separation between church and state." Jefferson and Madison believed that government support for any religion was improper.

Madison also said: "Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which pervades America and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society. For where there is such a variety of sects, there cannot be a majority of any one sect to oppress and persecute the rest." In other words, we are free to worship how we please, where we please, or not worship at all.

However, even Jefferson and Madison made the Establishment Clause somewhat murky. Madison signed proclamations of religious fasting and thanksgiving feasts. Jefferson signed treaties that sent Christian ministers to the Native Americans to "convert" them to Christianity.

So now comes COVID-19. Doctors and scientists have all warned that meeting in large groups spreads the disease faster. So, instead of listening to the experts, some houses of worship and right-wing Republicans listened to Donald Trump. He politicized the virus, which then contributed to the deaths of 265,000 Americans (at last count).

On March 12, 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York state is limiting mass gatherings. Events of 500 or more people were canceled or postponed. Groups of less than 500 people had to cut capacity by 50 percent, with certain exceptions. However, this announcement did not mention the houses of worship. Cuomo also created cluster zones to limit the size of gatherings.

The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America were initially in a red zone, which limited worship houses to 25% capacity with ten people maximum. According to Spectrum News 1 in New York, "The filing by Agudath Israel of America states the governor's restrictions explicitly target the Orthodox Jewish community, which is in the midst of celebrating three holidays—Hoshanah Rabbah, Shmini Atzeres, and Simchas Torah." As a reform Jew, we celebrated these holidays by using Zoom meetings. Why can't the Archdiocese and Orthodox Jews of New York do what we did? These two groups don't seem to understand is that this isn't about their right to worship. It's about saving lives, period.

These religious groups won a huge victory when the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. The Supreme Court showed that it is more politicized than ever by not allowing restrictions to SAVE AMERICAN LIVES. Also, as Cuomo stated, 'SCOTUS issued a political decision that is 'irrelevant from any practical impact' because the religious institutions that sued are no longer under restrictions."

COVID-19 is not a political issue. It's not a freedom of religion issue. It's a health issue. It's a life-and-death situation. The coronavirus is the most severe pandemic the world is facing in

100 years. It seems that in the United States, common sense left half the population. The right-wing extremists think that by wearing a mask, we are somehow violating their freedom of choice. I dearly wish that they could see that we just want to live safely and that we want to support our fellow human beings in living safely and COVID-19 free. So wear the stupid mask, stay home, have your meetings and religious services over Zoom and let's get through this pandemic together, okay?