Calvary Chapel in San Jose, California, Ordered to Pay $1.2 Million Over COVID-19 Mask and Protocol Violations

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge has ruled that Calvary Chapel San Jose must pay the county about $1.2 million in fines and interest for defying local and state COVID-19 health orders in 2020, according to a report by Bay City News. Judge Evette Pennypacker issued the ruling on Wednesday, finding the church liable after it held indoor services and other gatherings without requiring attendees to wear face coverings.

The county had originally sought to collect nearly $3 million in unpaid fines. Pennypacker ruled that the church owes roughly $1.2 million, including 10 percent interest, for failing to comply with mask requirements between Nov. 9, 2020, when the county issued a Notice of Violation, and June 21, 2021, when the county lifted its blanket indoor mask order. The notice also cited the church for not complying with a county requirement that businesses submit a Social Distancing Protocol attesting to COVID-related safety measures. Fines began accruing from that November 2020 notice.

The church closed in March 2020 as the pandemic began and reopened for religious services on May 31, 2020, without a capacity cap, which was required for indoor activities at the time. The judgment states that between May 31, 2020, and May 2021, the church held a pair of Sunday services with average attendance of 300 to 500 people, along with prayer gatherings and roughly 1,000 baptism ceremonies. The church has a indoor capacity of 600.

Church leaders, including senior pastor Mike McClure, have argued that the county’s health orders, which prohibited most indoor gatherings and required masks or other face coverings indoors, violated the church’s right to freely practice religion and worship. Church officials have said masks were available to attendees but were not enforced, and that the church did not enforce social distancing between groups. According to the judgment, the church contends the county has scant evidence of dozens of unmasked events, because county health officials did not inspect the church every day.

The church frequently live-streamed its services, and McClure often referred in them to the lack of masks among attendees and the church’s dispute with the county. In a service on Jan. 10, 2021, he said, “I think about our government’s infringement on our liberties,” and described the pandemic as something “they’re using … to stop you and I from worshipping God.”

Santa Clara County Counsel James Williams said the county’s public health orders and safety measures saved “thousands of lives” and helped keep the county’s death rate among the lowest in the country. In a statement, Williams said, “Calvary’s arguments have been rejected at almost every turn.” Pennypacker wrote in the judgment that the church’s “religious beliefs did not give them carte blanche to regularly violate face covering and SDP requirements that were neutral and generally applicable to all comparable, regulated entities in the county.” She added that requiring face coverings and an SDP were “reasonable, unobtrusive means” of addressing the county’s compelling interest in reducing the spread of COVID-19 (Luke 12:48, the expectation that much given requires much in return, as the court applied the same rules to all comparable entities).

Source: Read the original report