A left-leaning judge has ordered a Catholic church in California to pay $1.2 million in fines for holding religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Superior Court Judge Evette D. Pennypacker fined the Calvary Chapel in San Jose for not following COVID-19 restriction guidelines between November 2020 and June 2021.
“It should appear clear to all — regardless of religious affiliation — that wearing a mask while worshiping one’s god and communing with other congregants is a simple, unobtrusive, giving way to protect others while still exercising your right to religious freedom,” Pennypacker wrote in his ruling.
The Democrat-appointed judge added that the church not only refused to comply with mandate rules but also “urged others to do so ‘who cares what the cost,’ including death.”
Mariah Gondeiro, the attorney representing the California church, said an appeal of the ruling will soon be filed.
“When I saw the opinion, I didn’t break a sweat at all. I know where the Supreme Court stands on these issues. We’ve already won at the Sixth Appellate District two times,” Gondeiro said.
Meanwhile, County Counsel James Williams celebrated Pennypacker’s ruling, saying that it showed the court “once again saw through Calvary’s unsupported claims and found them meritless.”
“The county’s response to the pandemic, including the health officer’s public health orders and enforcement against entities that refused to follow the law, saved thousands of lives and resulted in one of the lowest death rates of any community in the United States,” Williams said.
This comes as Christian persecution is on the rise amid rising totalitarianism. Since the controversial “Roe v. Wade” case was overturned on June 24 of last year, leftist anarchists have been vandalizing innocent churches across the country since “Roe v. Wade” was overturned on June 24.
“There is something odd that is happening here, phenomena that is not being reported. I think it’s a combination of people who believe it’s correct to desecrate and defile houses [of worship] as a means of political protest”, said Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo.
Most recently, the Catholic News Agency reported of a church being desecrated. The once peaceful houses of worship now have to clean up vile graffiti and severe property damage. Sometimes it is obvious when language is being used to provoke violence.
