It has come to my attention that a number of churches, in this case located in British Columbia (B.C.) Canada, are challenging public health measures in the courts claiming that they unfairly target religious gatherings. According to legal experts and theologians, the legal arguments, largely based on interpretations of the Bible and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, can cut it both ways. Firstly, by way of background, the province of B.C. was among the first to introduce a number of restrictions back in the spring of 2020. Public health orders put in place at the recommendation of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s (B.C.’s provincial health officer) appeared to have successfully contained the first outbreak of COVID-19 in the province. With the current second wave, public health measures have been reintroduced to deal with recent outbreaks, particularly in the Vancouver area. To date, COVID-19 has killed more than 1,000 people in B.C. and infected more than 60,000 people in the province of a little over 5 million. There is little doubt that public health authorities are worried that the second wave could increase hospitalizations of COVID-19 cases and overload the health care system — a concern also arising in other larger provinces. According to federal statistics, about 7.6 percent of COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized.
What I found particularly alarming was a statement by one clergy member that this is not the bubonic plague and fifty thousand people have not died in B.C., thereby arguing that they are not in that health emergency place. One must then ask, just how many deaths would it take to justify putting into place health emergency measures? Ten thousand, twenty thousand or thirty thousand? The clergy then goes on to argue that there is no authority except that which God has established. As a result, there are those who believe that the dissenting churches are being influenced by U.S.-based evangelicals who see COVID-19 restrictions as an affront to their freedoms. Indeed, certain church groups appear to be taking their claims from a kind of American version of religious freedom, which isn’t a Canadian one.
Once again, the current extraordinary situation contains familiar arguments surrounding religion vs. science. I would happily leave such a debate to the theologians and philosophers. From a holistic and realistic point of view, governments are obviously within their rights to use their powers to limit the potential for future COVID-related deaths and sickness, including declaring a state of emergency. In light of the alarming increase in COVID-19 cases, greater transmission rates and the arrival of more contagious variants, many forms of indoor and outdoor gatherings have been restricted in numbers. Until enough persons are vaccinated, we have little option but to continue such public health measures. Most legal experts in Canada believe that religious institutions which deliberately and flagrantly violate basic public health requirements during the pandemic will probably receive very little sympathy from the courts. And rightly so!
FROLITICKS 