New Mexico church responds to $10K fine for holding services amid COVID-19

By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter

A New Mexico evangelical church maintains that it took measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 after state authorities levied a substantial fine against it for allegedly violating the state’s coronavirus restrictions. 

After Calvary Church in Albuquerque hosted its Christmas Eve services it received a notice of contemplated action from the state's Department of Health stating that the church would be fined $10,000. The church's leadership, however, contend that they followed public health guidelines to reduce the spread of the virus even as it cannot be eliminated. 

"Vulnerable people were discouraged from attending, every other row was cordoned off in the church’s spacious sanctuaries, mask-wearing was encouraged, and family units that came together sat together. We are also confident that we maintained capacity levels in keeping with our state’s current public health order," said a Calvary Church spokesperson in a statement sent to The Christian Post on Friday. 

"In fact, Governor Lujan Grisham praised us earlier this year for our efforts, so we are especially shocked by the incendiary and politicized rhetoric from the governor’s office," the spokesperson added. 

The church was fined for allegedly violating restrictions on in-person worship services and mask mandates implemented by the New Mexico Department of Health. The restrictions, which went into effect on Dec. 15, require churches located in “red-level” counties to cap attendance at 25% of capacity.

Because Bernalillo County, home to Albuquerque and the largest county in the state, is a “red-level” county, the 25% capacity restrictions apply to Calvary Church. 

Gov. Lujan Grisham's Communications Director Tripp Stelnicki criticized the church in a terse statement this week, insisting that though everyone wishes the pandemic was over, "it’s not, and no pro-virus pastor may deem it so."

"So many New Mexicans have sacrificed — and lost — so much in this pandemic," he said. 

"These illegal and selfish gatherings will directly contribute to more suffering and illness in our state. These church leaders should reflect on the danger they’ve unleashed in their communities," Stelnicki said, referring to Calvary Church and Legacy Church in Albuquerque, where services streamed online showed many people gathered together with few wearing face masks, according to local news outlet KRQE.

The Calvary Church spokesperson went on to say that while they have always had a good relationship with their local and state government officials, they will be requesting an administrative hearing regarding the fines, arguing on First Amendment grounds that even during a pandemic they ought not to be penalized for holding services, particularly given recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings affirming Calvary's position on the matter. 

The Supreme Court recently vacated lower court decisions against churches suing Colorado and New Jersey over each state’s restrictions on worship gatherings. In a 5-4 ruling just before Thanksgiving, the high court held that the rights of a Catholic diocese and an Orthodox Jewish group were violated, saying New York state's COVID restrictions on houses of worship "strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty."

"Churches are not entertainment venues like theaters or stadiums. Our congregations provide essential services to our communities. Faith continues to play an indispensable role in helping individuals cope with the direct and indirect aspects of this public health crisis. For instance, Calvary alone has distributed over $1.5 million dollars of direct assistance to those in need in our community over the course of the pandemic," the New Mexico church explained Friday. 

"We will never waiver from our commitment to honor God in all that we do, serve our community according to our calling, and follow best practices as long as this crisis persists. We simply could not take away from healthy people the opportunity to choose to worship at Christmas.”

Legacy Church was also fined for holding services. Earlier this year, Legacy Church sued the state over its COVID orders but a judge denied their request that the restrictions be eased. 

 

Belief in God rising among Gen Z amid COVID-19 pandemic, survey finds

By Brandon Showalter, Christian Post Reporter

COVID-19 has led to a rise in the number of young people in the U.K. who are seeking and believing in God, according to a survey, challenging trends indicating that Gen Zers are the most irreligious generation.

A recent YouGov survey found that Gen Zers in their late teens and early 20s are more likely to believe in God than millennials who are in their late 20s and 30s.

Conducted in late November, researchers asked 2,169 people about their faith, inquiring if they believed in God, believed in some kind of spiritual higher power but not God, believed in neither, or did not know.

Though the poll unsurprisingly revealed that those older than 60 were the most religious age bracket, 23% of the youngest group, those ages 16 to 24, indicated that they believed in God, an increase from 21% when the question was asked of 18- to 24-year-olds in January.

Overall, across all age groups, belief in God decreased by 1 percentage point, from 28% to 27% from January to November. Based on responses to the questions, the percentage of what researchers designated as atheists and agnostics — those who said they did not believe in God or a higher power or were not sure — rose from 51% to 56% over the same span of time.

The study indicated that young people can easily access information about faith on the internet, the main reason for the shift toward belief in God among that age group in addition to less stigma about religious beliefs in their peer groups, yielding more open discussions.

Lois Lee, a fellow of the University of Kent’s Department of Religious Studies, said that it's still too early to determine whether COVID-19 has caused certain people to embrace faith in the long run.

“It is highly likely the pandemic has impacted on people’s existential beliefs and practices, but I’m not yet convinced it will have made any group more or less religious in the longer term, though time will tell,” she said, in comments to The Sunday Times.

"Possibly this year’s data indicate that young people are going through that kind of exploratory period more than others,” she added.

The data reveals a change in the longterm expectation that younger generations will become "progressively less religious," according to Stephen Bullivant, a professor of the sociology of religion at St. Mary's University in Twickenham, adding that it's likely that a larger share of Gen Zers is born into relatively religious homes from "Muslim, immigrant Catholic, or black Christian" families.

YouGov also found in another survey that 56% of Britons continue to regard the U.K. as a Christian country.