Tucker Carlson interviewed New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy, a couple of days ago, and asked about an incident at which police officers broke up a funeral for a Rabbi at a synagogue in Lakewood, NJ. They arrested and charged fifteen of the congregants with violating the governor’s order against large gatherings.
A funeral is not necessarily a worship service, but when it is held at a church or synagogue, there is normally a homily and often hymns are sung, so the gathering has the character of a worship service. Tucker noted that freedom of worship and the right to peaceably assemble are both protected in the Bill of Rights.
“By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?
“That’s above my pay grade, Tucker, so I wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights when I did this.”
The state governments, not the federal government (which is a government of limited, delegated powers) are the general governments of these United States, with the power to regulate public health, safety and morals, which is called the “police power.”
Every state’s constitution guarantees freedom of worship, and every governor swears to uphold his state’s constitution, in addition to the federal constitution, when he assumes office. New Jersey’s constitution, which dates from 1776, and hence is eleven years older than the federal constitution, provides:
“No person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; nor under any pretense whatever be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his faith and judgment; nor shall any person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing any church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right or has deliberately and voluntarily engaged to perform.”
Here in part is the oath Phil Murphy took to become governor of New Jersey:
“I, Phil Murphy, elected governor of the State of New Jersey, do solemnly promise and swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, . . . so help me God.“
Far from being “above his pay grade,” allegiance to the United States and New Jersey constitutions is Phil Murphy’s foremost and (assuming his oath means anything) most sacred duty.
But his casual, flippant protestation to the contrary is sadly typical of America’s political class, which has not covered itself in glory during the unseemly, society-wide panic over the Wuhan virus. To the contrary, the Chinese Communist Party Virus (as the Epoch Times calls it) has revealed some troubling dictatorial instincts on the part of our elected officials.
The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, forbade people to attend drive-in church services on Easter morning, despite the fact that people in their cars with their windows rolled up pose no risk of spreading the Wuhan virus. His Lordship, Mayor Greg Fischer, even asked congregants to inform on pastors who held services.
The Temple Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, invited church members to safely gather and pray, drive-in style, on the Wednesday before Easter. Greenville police officers showed up at the service and ticketed congregants $500 apiece, even though the service complied with CDC guidelines. Ironically, the ticket-happy cops increased the risk of spreading disease by insisting that the parishioners roll down their windows to receive their citations.
These examples of grotesque overreach were swatted down. A federal judge called the Louisville Mayor’s action “stunning” and “‘beyond all reason’ unconstitutional.” AG Bill Barr’s Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in the Mississippi case siding with Temple Baptist Church. But it is troubling that so many ignore the constitutional considerations and treat the virus shut down as an opportunity to stick it to the hated Christians.
Vindicating our God-given and constitutional right to freedom of religion is not “above the pay grade” of anyone reading this article, much less our mayors, county judges, and governors.