“Clever Churchgoers Avoid Arrest By Disguising Themselves As Rioters”

In Southern California, churchgoers, in spite of the mandated lockdown, have found a bold, creative way to get around the ban on in-person meetings, according to babylonbee.com.

“We already have the righteous indignation thing down,” said one church elder. “Now, we’ve simply added black balaclavas, hoodies, Guy Fawkes masks, and baseball bats!”

“We found that when we do this, we can meet in large groups without much interference from the local authorities. It’s been a delightful experience.”

It’s not just Southern California that the satirical site babylonbee.com can mock. There’s a problem in Madison, Wisconsin – for real. Both the city and county have collaborated on a discriminatory public health order capping in-person worship to just 50 people, reports James Freeman in the WSJ.

Appalling Double Standards

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway persists in enforcing appalling double standards to the rules of social distancing.

Under the order, shopping malls, bars, restaurants, spas, gyms, salons, museums, movie theaters, community centers, bowling alleys, skating rinks, trampoline parks and more are not subject to the 50-person cap.

Madison’s mayor has also announced that public protests are not subject to government restrictions at all.

As Mr. Freeman points out, the abuse of local political power in Madison is not limited to Wisconsin or to California.

Mayor Bill de Blasio Onboard

The Forward’s Aiden Pink noted this week:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that he still supported quarantine measures that limited attendance at houses of worship to 10, even as he supported mass protests in the city against police brutality.

Rules for Political Expediency

This column will go out on a limb and suggest that political agendas are influencing the rules allegedly enacted to protect public health. The overt discrimination against religious exercise in Madison and New York City seems ideological, but often the rules seem designed more for political expediency.

Liquor Stores, Yes / Youth Sports, No

In states like New Jersey liquor stores are deemed essential by government but youth sports have been forbidden.

This column of course has no quarrel with the former decision, only the latter.

Everyone should have a quarrel with politicians selectively enforcing limits on social gatherings depending on the beliefs and the speech of participants.

Everyone should also have a quarrel with the limits themselves. In Wisconsin as in the rest of the country, Covid has never become the hospital-overwhelming catastrophe that many feared.