Tyler O’Neil – March 30, 2020
On Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that the city could shut down places of worship if congregants continued to violate the state’s stay-at-home orders.
“A small number of religious communities, specific churches, and specific synagogues are unfortunately not paying attention to this guidance even though it’s so widespread,” de Blasio said at a press conference. “I want to say to all those who are preparing for the potential of religious services this weekend: If you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services.”
The mayor said that city staff members have been instructed to break up church services and to “take additional action up to the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently,” if worshippers do not comply.
De Blasio: churches and synagogues that hold worship services may be closed permanently pic.twitter.com/kdUsdbP2YO
— Matthew Schmitz (@matthewschmitz) March 29, 2020
Jeremy Dys, special counsel for litigation and communications at the religious freedom law firm First Liberty, condemned de Blasio’s threat in remarks to PJ Media.
“The American people will tolerate a lot during a time of national pandemic. They will not tolerate government threats to permanently close Houses of Worship. Such careless talk by Mayor De Blasio harms the ability of church and state to work together, not only to provide calm and comfort during a global pandemic, but to strengthen religious freedom,” Dys warned.