California County Declares Itself “Sanctuary County” for Christian Worship Services!

From the Christian Post:

San Luis Obispo County, located in central California, has become a sanctuary county for churches struggling to cope state restrictions on worship gatherings.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow confirmed late last month he will not prosecute churches for holding worship services or for singing in church, which was deemed unlawful by an order from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In many counties, pastors have had to decide between revolting or abiding by the order.

Newsom’s order to ban or limit church gatherings has led to lawsuits from churches and even a federal court ruling in May, where District Judge John A. Mendez ruled that Newsom’s order is legal during the COVID-19 crisis.

“I declare San Luis Obispo County a sanctuary county for singing and praising in our houses of worship,” Dow said in a video shared via Twitter. “Inherent with my responsibility to enforce the law is the discretion I have … to pursue only those charges that are warranted and are in the interest of justice.”

More than 30 counties in California are not allowed to gather for church services, according to Newsom’s order that places even greater restrictions on counties included in the state’s COVID-19 watch list.

Gatherings of 10 people or more in households in those counties are also banned, essentially prohibiting some in-home Bible study gatherings. Whether a church can legally gather or not, singing during worship is disallowed under Newsom’s order.

Churches in other counties not on the watch list are permitted to gather in limited capacities as long as they follow social distancing guidelines.

And from Activist Mommy:

It’s always important to remember that we live in a federal republic. This means that we elect officials at local, county, state, and national levels to represent us and do our will.

Each of these elected officials is beholden to us, the voters, and to the Constitution that places the supreme power of our state in our hands.

Federal and state officials do not have the authority to supersede your rights, and every single elected official below any tyrant is morally bound to you, not to the tyrant violating your rights.

This important philosophical principle behind the function of our system is well exemplified in San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow, who has said he will not be prosecuting anyone for attending church services which, as The Christian Post notes, have been considered unlawful in most counties in California under Governor Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus orders.

“I declare San Luis Obispo County a sanctuary county for singing and praising in our houses of worship,” Dow said in a video he posted to Twitter. “Inherent with my responsibility to enforce the law is the discretion I have … to pursue only those charges that are warranted and are in the interest of justice.”

CP explains:

More than 30 counties in California are not allowed to gather for church services, according to Newsom’s order that places even greater restrictions on counties included in the state’s COVID-19 watch list.
Gatherings of 10 people or more in households in those counties are also banned, essentially prohibiting some in-home Bible study gatherings. Whether a church can legally gather or not, singing during worship is disallowed under Newsom’s order.
Churches in other counties not on the watch list are permitted to gather in limited capacities as long as they follow social distancing guidelines.

In his Twitter video, he also referenced a speech he’d given on July 4th where he addressed the importance of the First Amendment and first declared that San Luis Obispo County was to be a “sanctuary county for worship and praise in church.”

“Now more than ever in 2020, we need more people attending their houses of worship and seeking help from the Almighty for an answer to the coronavirus,” Dow said. “In that spirit, I’m calling on people of faith in our county and across our state, across our country and across the world, to pray for peace [and] healing.”

And from CBN:

Conservatives often criticize sanctuary cities for allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country. But in California, a district attorney has just declared his county a sanctuary county - for churches.

San Luis Obispo County Attorney Dan Dow told CBN News he will not prosecute churches that violate Governor Gavin Newsom's orders limiting praise and worship.

"I strongly feel that it would be against the interest of justice for us to punish criminally citizens choosing to worship God or whatever religion they have at a time when we are going through a pandemic," Dow said.

"I mean, if anything, we need people to spend more time in their faith seeking help from the Almighty to answer this coronavirus and to protect our communities and our nation," he said.

Dow made his sanctuary church decision after Governor Newsom issued an order preventing California Christians from singing during worship services.

Newsom's decree also prohibits ten or more people from gathering in houses. That means Christians meeting for Bible studies in their homes may be deemed guilty of committing a misdemeanor.

And lastly, from the local San Luis Obispo Tribune:

District Attorney Dan Dow promoted his declaration that San Luis Obispo County is a “sanctuary county for praise and worship” on a national radio show for a fundamentalist Christian organization that’s been labeled a “hate group” for its anti-LGBTQ views.

On Tuesday, Dow appeared on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” a daily politics broadcast for the Family Research Council, which was designated a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2011.

Dow was a guest on the show due to media coverage of his public declaration in a July 4 video that he would not enforce a state order from Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans singing at houses of worship because of the elevated threat it poses in spreading COVID-19. The governor’s action came on top of fluctuating restrictions on indoor church gatherings.

San Luis Obispo County is currently on the state’s COVID-19 “watch list” and as of Friday had a total of 2,324 coronavirus cases and 18 deaths due to COVID-19.

During the broadcast, Dow told Perkins, the current president of the FRC, that when he first heard of the order preventing singing inside churches, his “heart sank.”

“We need to continue to assert that right (to worship) and push back against government that turns its priorities upside down and turns its back on those very fundamental liberties,” Dow told Perkins.

“I want the citizens in our county to know that they’re free to worship, enter their houses of worship and sing and praise God and they will not be prosecuted for it as a criminal in my county while I’m the district attorney,” he said. “I have discretion as the prosecutor, the one person who can bring all the public offenses in our county to court.”

“My discretion is that if a case is not in the interest of justice to go forward, I shall not do that,” he said.

He also rejected the idea of charging churchgoers with misdemeanor violations when tens of thousands of inmates have been freed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in California’s state prisons.