THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND RESTRICTIONS ON CHURCHES: EVALUATING THE CHRISTIAN LEGAL MOVEMENT'S ROLE IN POLARIZING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

ABSTRACT: The coronavirus pandemic affected virtually all aspects of American life, including how people worship. In the earliest days of the pandemic state and local governments enacted restrictions on public gatherings that affected churches and other houses of worship. In response, groups comprising the Christian legal movement filed numerous lawsuits, claiming these restrictions severely infringed on people’s First Amendment rights to religious exercise. While some of these restrictions were poorly designed and unfairly singled out churches relative to other kinds of gatherings, others that were reasonable, neutral restrictions enacted in the legitimate pursuit of safeguarding public health were attacked just the same. In this article, we argue that the Christian legal movement’s opposition to these latter restrictions reflected the growing polarization of religious freedom in the United States. This advocacy, while occasionally providing victories for churches and other houses of worship, has the effect of turning religious freedom into yet another culture war issue. This is a problem for the future of religious freedom as a political and constitutional question, and has the potential to weaken religious freedom protections in the long run. KEYWORDS: Polarization; Religious Freedom, Religious Liberty, First Amendment, Pandemic, COVID-19, Legal Advocacy, Christian Conservatis